Come Home
by surroundedbystars
Summary: Max Caulfield never expected that her trip back to 2008 would change so much. Now, sitting in the Price Household with the alternative Chloe Price and a William Price that never died, she is confronted with one question. Should she go back to the world she knew? Meanwhile, in the Prime Timeline how will Chloe react when she discovers that Max is missing?
1. Chapter 1

**The following is a piece of fan-fiction based upon Dontnod Entertainment's Life is Strange. No claim of ownership is made and none is expected to be honored. I own nothing.**

 **It didn't start implicitly as a Pricefield story in the strictest sense, but I do support Pricefield as a pairing and it sort of became more implicit the more and more I wrote. I support Pricefield above the other pairings because even if they've been apart for five years, the one constant in Max and Chloe's lives is that they've always had an amazing connection that brings out the best in both of them and brings them back to each other. And if that ain't true love then I don't know what is.**

 **I hope you enjoy this story.**

* * *

 **2013\. Alt/Timeline. 16:23pm**

What have I done?

'Max?' William, your dad and the man who was dead, says.

Was he dead, really? Does any of that still exist, or is this all there is now? I wish I knew. Warren would know.

'H-hi,' I say, finally, and bring my hand away from my face.

You don't say anything. Can you say anything?

You look happy to see me. That's a victory, I guess.

'Would you like to come in, Max?' William says.

'Yes,' I say and make my way into the hallway.

You smile and then make your way back into the living room.

It's the house that I remember. All the hand-drawn pictures are still in the same places and the same photographs on the walls – photographs from your family's trips around the state, photographs from your trips around the town, and that photograph from that time your dad got that award from Dennis Merrill. I wonder where Joyce put that one in our universe.

There are more photographs too, photographs from trips abroad and photographs from your daily life. There are enough of them that I'm mesmerized by the sheer number. Most of them are from before the accident, but there are a couple from afterward. It's just you and your dad in those.

'Are you coming, Max?' William says and taps me on the shoulder.

It's funny, you know. It feels like that tap on the shoulder from that vision I had on Monday. Kinda feels like you, actually.

'Yes,' I say and follow him to the living room. 'I love what you've done with the house.'

'Turned it into a shrine to the god of photography?' he smiles. 'Thought you would.'

We make our way into the living room and find you sitting next to the glass door closest to the TV, across from the couch that had been pushed into the far corner. Based on the blue butterfly painted on the open door, I guess that William has converted the garage into a bedroom… It must have been easier for you. It looks really nice, by the way. It's very you, very old you, with its pop posters and Jolly Rogers and posters of anime heroines.

The breakfast table is gone, and it's a little bit messy, but it looks the same otherwise, far more than it did when David… I don't even know how to describe it. I remember him living here, but he never did now, did he?

Did it still happen?

Does that make sense?

This is so fucked up.

You do look content. though, like you've finally come home. You look more content than I've seen you in a while. Wait, no, that's not true. You looked content this morning when you were photobombing me and when we were swimming last night. We were home then, right?

You do look awfully happy though…

Is that even you? She's Chloe Elizabeth Price, the same Chloe Elizabeth Price that had my back when we were kids, but she's not the same Chloe Elizabeth Price who promised that we would make the world bow, is she?

I'm not even sure who I'm addressing.

Oh, Lord, I need help.

'Sit down, Max,' William says. 'Would you like something to drink?'

'Yes,' I say as I sit on the couch.

On the table in front of the television, I can see a photograph of you and your dad at what must be your 19th Birthday Party. You look happy, your dad looks proud with his arms on your shoulders. There are no candles to blow out or cake to eat, though.

'Max?'

'Sorry, some tea would be lovely.'

'Great,' William says. 'I'll just be a minute. You girls catch up.'

Your dad disappears into the kitchen and we're left alone and I don't know what to do. I look over to you – her – sitting there with her sandy blonde hair, bathed in the yellow sun, so quiet, so calm.

Do I tell her… you the truth?

 _Hi Chloe, I know it feels like I haven't seen you in five years, but in reality I saw you earlier this morning after we made out and then broke into your ex-girlfriend's drug dealer ex-boyfriend's RV._

 _What's that? Oh, it's a long story._

 _Essentially, your dad died, I left and am apparently an asshole in every iteration of the universe and you fell into a deep depression that was only slightly lifted when you met Rachel Amber. You were desperate to leave Arcadia Bay, but sadly Rachel disappeared before you could. Then, you spent the past six months looking for her._

 _Your mom married the Blackwell Bus Driver, who in my reality is the head of security and a complete and utter bastard. And on Monday, I realized that I could rewind time, just in time to save you from being murdered by the asshole who almost sexually assaulted you and who you were blackmailing._

 _Yesterday, we went shooting with step-douche's gun (that you stole), I almost shot Rachel's ex-boyfriend, you almost got run over by a train and I saved my friend Kate from killing herself. Then, we broke into my school, constructed a small explosive device and went swimming._

 _And this morning I kissed you, but I've already mentioned that. It was quick, but very sweet though. Well, I thought so…_

 _Then I told you the truth about Rachel and broke your heart, again._

 _What's that, William? No, I'm not on drugs… I think. This new continuity is fucking with me. After the week I've had, though, some drugs would be lovely, thank you._

 _What do you mean, "get out?"_

I realize that I've been staring into space for over a minute and look at you. Dammit, Chloe, she… You look just so damned happy to see me. I don't deserve that look.

'I… I'm sorry,' I say and look down at my feet.

'What was that, Max?' William says as he reappears from the kitchen.

I look up and see that the smile has fallen from your face and then turn to your dad. 'I said I'm sorry, for not calling sooner, I mean.'

'Oh,' he says and then looks towards you, concerned. Tired, far more tired than I've ever seen him, even when he came back from out of state. 'Maybe I should explain. You've caught us on a really bad day, Max. Because of Chloe's condition, she needs a ventilator and a valve attached to her tracheotomy tube in order to raise the amount of oxygen in her blood. Chloe wasn't feeling very well about an hour ago, so we closed the valve for a little while to raise her oxygen level.'

'Oh… I'm sorry.'

'Don't be, Max. How could you know?'

If I actually visited? If I actually bothered to spend time with my friend? If I was a good person?

'I… I guess I couldn't.'

'No, no you couldn't Max. So, how've you been?'

Chloe, I ask utterly honestly and in words that I hope best communicate my heartfelt and sincere confusion. After the week that we've had, what the fuck do I say to that?

'Fine,' I say, unsure of whether or not to address you or your dad. 'I go to Blackwell now.'

'That's great. We had heard that you got a scholarship. Do you have a lot of friends there?'

I look up from my shoes and take a sip of tea. 'A couple. My friend Warren is a bit of a science geek, but he's got a good heart. I think he's going to ask out his friend Brooke. Dana's on the cheerleading squad. Hell, she is the cheerleading squad. There's more pep in that girl than bread in France. Juliet could be Lois Lane. Kate Marsh is…' I smile. 'Kate Marsh is a sweetheart, and I think she could run for Pope and get more than a few votes.'

'Sounds nice,' William says. 'I'm glad that you've made friends.'

'It is, but to be honest my best friend is someone from outside Blackwell,' I say wistfully.

'Oh?'

I can't help but look towards you. 'She's suave and kicks ass… A blue haired punk with a full sleeve tattoo named Lizzie who's going to make the world bow.'

Your dad looks down at his feet, clearly uncomfortable. Do I sound like you do when you talk about Rachel?

'Maybe you'd like to join me and Lizzie once, Chloe?'

You start smiling again.

'It'd be awesome. Mostly we just shoot the shit and listen to music. It's hella fun.'

'I'd need to come with you guys,' William says, 'until you get trained with Chloe's ventilator, I mean. But it does sound like fun.'

'We'd love it if you'd come, William.'

'Are you sure your friend wouldn't mind an old ogre like me hanging about with you guys?'

'Are you kidding? After everything I've said about you, Mr Price, Lizzie would be the happiest person in the world to see you.'

'Well! I'm legendary and I didn't even know it.'

'Yeah… We umn… We were going to go on a road trip. First down to Portland, pay a visit to Powell's, then keep heading south. I think we were going to visit San Francisco, then Los Angeles for a few days before heading to Big Sur and I was wondering if you'd like to join us, Chloe?'

'We'd need to discuss it further, Max. Chloe has specialized medical needs now.'

I take another sip of tea. 'I understand, Mr. Price. I'll do whatever it takes, even if I have to go to the local community college and take classes. It honestly won't be the same without Chloe… It doesn't feel like home without Chloe.'

You blush. It's really cute.

Your dad chuckles again. 'I can't imagine.'

'No, I guess you can't,' I say and take another sip of tea. 'So ummn… What have you been up to Chloe? Are you still in school?'

William smiles. 'Didn't you hear? My little pirate is in university.'

'Really?'

'Oh yeah,' he says and holds your hand. 'Well, remember that Chloe was such a good student in middle school? Well, as soon as she went into high school they let her fill her schedule with AP class after AP class. She did so well that she graduated early and got early acceptance to the University of Oregon.

You smile, clearly proud of your accomplishments. It's insanely cute.

'That's amazing, Chloe. What are you studying?'

'It's mostly Physics, stuff that I don't understand but she absolutely owns,' William says. 'There is some Math and Criminology stuff too, which I do understand. We were talking about some art classes, too, some photography and writing classes, but Chloe seems dead-set on the sciences.'

'That sounds great, Chloe. I'm really happy that you're in university,' I say and finish my tea. 'What about you, William? Are you still with the Marshal's office?'

Your dad looks down to his shoes and pulls his hand away from yours. 'No, Max. After Chloe's accident and Joyce…'

What? Is Joyce? Oh God, Chloe… 'I'm sorry to hear about that, William. I know you loved being a deputy.'

'There was nothing to it really. Someone had to stay home and look after Chloe, so that's what I did. And luckily the Marshal in Portland was nice enough to promote me to Chief Deputy for the area so that I could retire on a Chief Deputy's pension and keep the Chief Deputy's health insurance.'

'Oh, that's good.'

We settle into an easy silence and listen to the television and then share stories. Your dad tells me about the trips he and Joyce took to Paris, Venice and Istanbul. When he speaks about her, he sounds sad. All I can do is listen, nod and then talk about my life, or at least as much as my life as I can.

It's funny, really, making a G-rated version of your own life. I have to cut Chloe out and replace Chloe with Lizzie for a start. And even then I have to tread carefully, cut out the parts that I'm sure he's not going to be happy about and re-wind the parts that turn out he doesn't like anyway. I guess it's good that your dad's so easy going. He's not happy that you like lying down on train tracks, by the way, but he is impressed with how good a shot I made you sound.

'I'm glad that you made a friend, Max, and I think that you, Lizzie and Chloe are going to have a great time.'

'Yeah.'

After talking a little longer, your dad notices that you're falling asleep. I turn my head and notice it too, your eyes falling every few seconds. I ask if everything's alright.

'Yeah, I think she's just tired. Do you want to go to bed, Chloe?'

You blink once and smile.

Outside, the sky has gone black and the pale yellow sun replaced by the full moon.

'Okay,' your dad says. 'I'll put you to bed.'

'I think I'll be going if you're going to sleep, Chloe,' I say and stand up.

I move over towards your chair and give you a light hug. 'Bye, Chloe. It was really lovely to see you today.'

When I pull away, you're smiling again. Why was I ever scared of that impish smile?

You mouth goodbye and make your way into your bedroom.

'Chloe,' your dad says. 'I'll just see Max out and then I'll be in to you.'

Once you're out of the room, he turns to me and says, 'It's been a really long day. She had an exam this morning.'

'Yeah, I can imagine,' I say.

I stare at your bedroom door and think about things, about everything that happened before, everything that happened since I came back, and everything that we talked about. You seem really happy, but... Something feels off, like I'm in a dream or watching a movie from a really long time ago. It's not like when I went back to save your dad. It's just... weird. It doesn't feel good.

'William,' I say. 'Do you remember that day just before I left for Seattle that you went to pick up Joyce from the store? We had a movie night the night before and were making pancakes'

'I think so... Why?'

'We took a couple of photographs that day. First me and Chloe, and then you and Chloe. Release the keys?'

'Oh' he chuckles. 'Release the keys… Yeah, I remember that, Max. Why?'

'I was wondering if I could have that photograph, for my collection.'

'Oh,' he says and goes for the photo album. 'Sure Max.'

While he's doing that, I write down my name and my cell phone number on a flyer from school and leave it on the table. After a quick moment, he finds the photograph and hands it to me. It's in the same place as it was in my universe.

'Thank you very much, William,' I say. 'I've left my number on a piece of paper on the table. I'd really appreciate a call when Chloe's feeling better.'

'I'm sure Chloe would love that, Max.'

'Yeah,' I say.

* * *

I'm back in my dorm and I don't know what to do.

I think it's my dorm, at least. It's my name on the door, and there are some of my photographs hanging on the wall, but there are plenty that aren't mine, plenty that belong to the other Max. Kate's bunny is gone, too, as is my lovely carpet. My wardrobe has been replaced by named brands that I could never afford and honestly don't really like. The movie collection royally sucks too, and the captain is nowhere to be found.

I fucking hate it. All of it.

But she… you… she seems really happy, Chloe, and nice.

Are you her?

Are you happy?

Your dad's still alive, so that's good. And David is drowning in his own karma. Victoria seems nicer here. And Warren is… Warren, I guess. I can always befriend him again, I suppose. But your mom... And no one's mentioned Kate or Rachel Amber. And what about me, who am I now? I barely recognize the Max in these photographs. I'm scared.

What should I do?

I look down at the photograph in my hands and I suddenly I know how to get back. It's like knowing how to swim – you just sort of know, you know? All I have to do is want to go back and splish splash - none of this would have happened. You'd still be… you, Warren would be back on track to making whoopee with Brooke and Kate would be the nice lady across the hall and I'd be looking after her bunny.

But, if I did that, what would I be?

Am I a force of nature like you think, or am I just manipulative, another member of the vortex club, only with much more pull? Would changing the past again make me any different than Nathan's dad?

Would it make things worse?

I wish you were here, Chloe. I guess you can be manipulative sometimes, but I need you now. I need you to take this burden away from me.

Would going back in time make me William's murderer? Would you blame me? Would you hate me?

All I have to do is think and there I am, back in your kitchen in 2008… It would be more effort to ask someone, honestly. But it's my decision, just mine, isn't it? And I've got to live with it forever.

This is so fucked up.

What would you do, Chloe?

What about you, Kate?

Mom?

Dad?

What should I do?

* * *

 **I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thank you very much for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**2013\. Alt/timeline. 20:05pm**

Chloe, please don't hate me…

I know that you love your dad, and I know that the past five years have been hard on you, harder than I can possibly imagine. I know that you'd give anything to see your dad again and cook with him and make dorky jokes… I tried, Chloe. I really tried. I literally tore down the walls of time and space to do it, but I can't shake the feeling that if I stayed here all I'd be doing is leaving you there, and I can't do that. Not again. Not after those five years. I can't live in that world, the world that I created. Not again.

Not without you.

This Chloe, that you, the one who was in that horrible accident… She probably puts Warren's intellect to utter shame, she's stronger than any football player at Blackwell, and she's absolutely gorgeous. She's Chloe Price, but she's not you. She's not the girl who needs me, not the girl that I promised to never abandon again, and not the girl who promised to never abandon me.

She's not the girl who vowed to make the world bow.

I hope the Max Caulfield from this reality is a nice person and that she comes back to meet this Chloe Price. I hope they become friends again and have some great adventures, just like ours.

I know that we left things badly, but I know that we can talk through this. I have to believe that. I'm going to save Arcadia Bay, even if it doesn't deserve it. And then we'll take that trip to Portland or Los Angeles or San Francisco. I'm not going to abandon you, Chloe. Never again.

I'm coming home.

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading this chapter and the story so far. I hope you liked it and would very much appreciate some feedback.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Life is Strange is an emotional game that deals with some sad situations, as does this piece of Fan-Fiction.. You have been warned.**

 **No claim of ownership of Life is Strange, Dontnod Entertainment or Square Enix is made. I own nothing.**

* * *

 **2008\. Prime Timeline. 19:42pm**

The sun has set and the lights in the other houses have already been turned on as a cold late January night settled in Arcadia Bay. In the Price household, though, the lights remain off, as does the television and all the cooking equipment. Neither Max nor Chloe want to touch the stove or watch television. They sit in silence and darkness, occasionally turning their attentions towards their watches.

William has been gone for hours, and there is no sign of Joyce.

Chloe sits on the floor with her back against the stairwell, waiting. Max sits at the dining table, staring at their drawings. Every so often, between looking at her watch and the pictures, she adjusts the fire.

'I can't believe they ditched us,' Max says. 'They're probably half-way to Venice or Paris by now.'

'Yeah,' Chloe says, but she's long since started worrying. On some level, she already knows. 'And this close to Valentines Day, too.'

'They're just getting a couple of hotel room off of Saint Marks or the Place Des Vosges and everything for us. They'll call for us when everything's cool and we'll go swimming. Splish splash.'

'Splish splash,' Chloe repeats quietly, 'yeah… Max?'

'Yeah?'

'Have you had any texts from your mom?'

'My phone ran out of power a while ago.'

'Do you have your charger with you?'

'Yeah, but it's upstairs in your room. Mom would call your house phone if there was an emergency.'

'Could you please go get your charger anyway, Max, just in case?'

'Are you sure, Chloe?'

'I'll be fine without you, Max.'

'Okay,' Max says and stands up from the dining table. 'I'll be quick.'

She slowly makes her way across the living room, past Chloe and the phone and up the staircase, her footsteps as quiet as possible in case they drown the sound of William and Joyce's return.

Once upstairs, she looks towards the poster of Arcadia Bay that William and Joyce bought the day they came back from their honeymoon. She stares at its outlines, barely visible in the winter night, for what feels like the longest time before continuing towards Chloe's room. Max sighs, opens the door and immediately goes towards the desk where Chloe's still on laptop sits – where she remembers leaving the charger. It takes a minute to find it in the dark, but it is there.

She wants to make a pun but somehow doesn't seem to have it in her. She feels exhausted.

Knock! Knock! Knock….

The sounds come from the front door.

Max freezes. She can hear footsteps downstairs, Chloe's footsteps, as loud and clear as if they were the sound of a storm crashing against the shore.

Oh no, Max thinks. Please, Lord, no…

There's a click as the front door unlocks, then a loud creak as it opens. Max tiptoes back out into the hallway, leaving Chloe's room ajar.

'Hell… Hello,' a man says downstairs but whom Max can't see. 'My… My name is Officer Everett Berry of the Arcadia Bay Police Department.'

'And I'm Sergeant Sarah Cohen, dear,' a woman says.

'Are… Are you Chloe Elizabeth Price?'

'Yeah…' Chloe says. 'I mean… Are you… I didn't tepee that house. I went out with Max upstairs… Instead… I went out with Max instead. She's upstairs. We had chicken and then we came back and watched Juno and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time with my mom and dad. Please don't arrest me before my parents come home. My dad is a Federal Marshal… Please. He'll be able to sort all this out when he gets home…'

'Chloe,' Berry says, 'you're not in any trouble… Can we come in?'

Max continues down the staircase, her breathing shallow and laboured.

'No,' Chloe says, deathly pale even against the blue and red lights of the police car outside. 'No you can't. My dad said to lock up after him and he's going to be upset that I let someone in the house, even if you are cops. Just tell me what you want and then please go away.'

'Chloe,' Officer Berry says. 'There was an accident.'

'What?'

'We're very sorry, but we have some bad news for you. Your dad's car suffered a collision earlier today. Your mother has been taken to the hospital, but she's fine and asking for you.'

'Oh, ok…' an in-shock Chloe says. 'Wait… What… What about my dad? What about William Price?'

Both police officers look to one another.

'I'm so sorry,' Berry says. 'He didn't make it.'

'What? No… No!'

Chloe collapses to the floor and she cries harder than she's ever cried and screams louder than she's ever screamed. It's a sound that draws neighbours' attention and makes the police officers uncomfortable, especially Berry, who's never delivered the bad news before.

Sergeant Cohen bends down and wraps her arms around Chloe and tries to offer solace in the way that she's been trained to – she tells Chloe the truth, compassionately.

A speeding pickup truck had swerved into her parent's lane and, with only a second's notice, William made a quick right turn, shielding Joyce from most of the impact.

Berry calls William very brave and a hero.

None of that matters to Chloe, though. She wants it to be a lie and there's nothing she can do.

For her, at that moment, time has lost all meaning and has all but stalled under its own weight. It's a moment that lasts forever, a moment that she'll remember forever, and a scar that will never ever heal and can't be covered up.

All Chloe can do is cry and scream while Max looks on in shock with tears in her eyes.

* * *

 **This was supposed to be the first scene in a thrice as long chapter, but I've discovered that I'm going to be very busy over the next few days and so probably won't have time to write, and since it turned out very well (for one, albeit very important, scene), I thought I'd post it now.**

 **This is going somewhere, I'm not providing angst for angst sake. I'll try not to be this depressing from now on.**

 **Thank you for reading. I'd very much appreciate a review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Trigger Warning: Mention of attempted suicide. It's not detailed, but it's something that you should probably be aware of.**

 **For the sake of this fic and my own personal headcanon, Kate's bunny is a male and named Ray Bradbunny and no-one can tell me any different.**

 **This chapter is from Chloe's point of view. _Italics_ imply imagined dialogue. **

* * *

**2013\. Prime Timeline. 16:23 pm**

I used to have this dream. It was nothing sexy, just a nice, breezy hallucination that I used to creep to whenever life got too hard or strange. Mostly hard. In this dream, I'm driving in some sort of black convertible with Rachel and we come to a stop at a red light just at the top of Santa Monica Boulevard. It's mid-day and she's just come from a modelling job and wearing that Native American braid thingy. Very pretty. I pull the handbrake and Rachel reaches over with her hand and places hers over mine. I turn to look at her and she smiles at me and everything's perfect, the way that a dream should be. I don't remember anything about my dad, Max, step-douche, Frank or Joyce. None of it… It was just me and Rachel. It was just perfect.

Suffice to say I don't have that dream anymore.

A Bruce Springsteen song starts on the radio as I pull into Cedar Avenue. Not in the mood, I wipe the tears away from my face and turn the radio off.

My shoulders ache and my throat feels like I've been screaming for hours. I guess I have. Years, maybe. My mileage tells me that I've driven almost fifty miles since I dropped Max at Blackwell, but I don't believe that. It feels more like a hella long thousand.

I look towards the half-blue Number 44 and slowly pull into the driveway. It's my house, the house that Joyce lives in, the house where dad used to live. It used to be my home, but it hasn't been that for a very long time. After today it won't even be my house anymore, just a place where I used to live. The decision's been made. Time to move on. Goodbye, Arcadia Bay.

As I get out of my truck, I can't help but imagine what Joyce is going to say.

" _Be reasonable, Chloe."_

" _Things will get better."_

" _Don't be stupid."_

" _You're just tired."_

" _Please,"_ she'll say with tears in her eyes. _"Don't leave me, Chloe."_

Fuck you, Joyce. Thing are never going to get better. Nothing gets fucking better. This fucking town is still the fucking hell-mouth and you're still married to Sergeant shit-head. Rachel ended up being nothing better than a whoring Judas and Max is… Max abandoned me once. I don't want to give her the opportunity to do it again. It's like a wheel of shit spinning round and round.

Fuck you all.

Fuck this world.

The house is locked; I guess Joyce is working overtime. Good, that'll make everything easier. I unlock the door with my key and make my way into the empty house. Hehe… I've been the Watson to a great detective and now that my Sherlock is gone I'm dealing with an empty house. Funny…

…I guess not. But if you don't laugh, you cry.

'Hey mom,' I say to the empty house. 'Rachel, the girl who I thought loved me, turned out to be loliting herself to the man who sells me drugs. Max tried defending her so I've decided to just disappear with the gun that I stole from your asshole husband and the five thousand dollars that I stole from Blackwell Academy. Oh, I also sort of made out with Max in my bedroom this morning after she slept in my bed. You got any problems with any of that?'

No reply.

'No? Didn't think so. Bye.'

I chuckle and make my way to the fridge for something to eat, only to stop when I notice the swarm of blue post it notes from Joyce, stuck onto the fridge like a long series of blue paving slabs.

* * *

Davidgone to a motel for a couple of days.

* * *

Got a call from Richard Marsh – the father of that nice young girl who goes to Max's school's and who nearly hurt herself yesterday and who runs the meals on wheels program…

* * *

…Kate's having trouble getting into contact with Max and I mentioned that you're friends with her. Could you call Max, or if she's there when you get this message, could you tell her to give Kate a call?

* * *

(Hi Max)

Kate wants RayBradbunny – which I think is her rabbit? – from Mom.

* * *

We'll talk later. All my love, Mommy Xxx

* * *

Shit, I have to sit down. I make my way to the kitchen table, only to stop when I see a pile of dad's old books. Joyce must have brought them down.

They're nothing special. Dad was never a connoisseur of great literature. To be honest, he had a pretty shitty taste in books and I can't imagine these will be any different. There's an old white hardback called The Accidental Human by a guy called Terry Greenbriar that's " _dedicated to the women in my family: Janice Greenbriar, Kaitlin Greenbriar, Samantha Greenbriar and Yolanda Desoto_ ," and the book under it is… Fuck.

It's the book he was reading the week he got killed.

'The Sudden Stop. An Alex Casey novel by Alan Wake,' I read from the book jacket and remember the last time I put it away, just afterwards…

It looks like sub-par Stephen King ripoff, but he was so excited about it. I remember the night before the accident. Max and I were sitting on the carpet watching The Girl Who Leapt Through Time when he came in from work, exhausted and still wearing his windbreaker. I stood up from the Max's and my fort in front of the TV and ran towards him for a hug. Before he noticed me, he had already kissed pulled my mom into his arms and kissed her as if he was Gomez Adams.

"And a hello to you too," she said. "Good day?"

"Awful," he chuckled. "Roger told me to bring somebody back from Newberg, real mean asshole."

"A-hem!" I said.

"I know," he replied with a smile, "swear jar, but thanks for reminding me."

I ran up to him and hugged him and he gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"Hi dad. How was your day?"

"He was just saying that, dear. What happened with the guy from Portland, William?"

"Well, just as I was crossing into Newberg city limits, I get a call from Roger at the office. He says that not only has the victim dropped the charges, but the court has decided that it's not cost effective to transport him back. So, there I am, in my car, having driven two hours…"

"What did you do?" Max said.

"Hi Max," Dad said with a smile. "Glad to see you here again. Are you and Max going to help me finish painting the house?"

"Sure."

"Oh no she is not," Joyce said. "And neither are you."

"It needs to be done, dear. It looks like a mess."

"It does need doing William, but not tonight. I've got you a gift on the table."

"Oh?"

I remember he gave me a kiss on the cheek and then let go of me and made his way to the table and the book, still in its paper bag from Whitman's.

"You really didn't have to go and do this, Joyce," he said, looking down on the book.

"It was nothin', darlin'," Joyce replied.

He smiled. "Well, I could finish it tomorrow afternoon."

"You not going to work tomorrow?"

"No," he said. "Since I had to pay for my own gas, Roger put me on casefile duty tomorrow. Make sure that evidence is fine and fit for trial, that sort of thing."

"That's great dear."

"That means we can do some cooking," I said, hungry for dad's version of mom's pancakes.

"Yeah," dad replied, "when I'm done with my work, though. Are you joining us Max?"

"Sure," Max replied and smiled. "I'd never want to be anywhere else."

The book marker is still in there. If I wanted to, I could read the last page he did that wasn't in a travel book. I don't know why, but looking over these, I feel that I have to call Max before leaving. I guess I think dad would want me to, or maybe it's my own sense of right and wrong. I don't know. I don't owe Kate Marsh shit, and I owe Joyce even less for marrying Major Malfunction, but I do owe Max.

One good deed before leaving Arcadia Bay forever?

No, it's not that. Fuck Arcadia Bay. Burn it to the ground.

I guess it's like the man said, if it's time to leave, then remember what you're leaving. Remember the best. I guess being with Max these past few days is the best I've been since… Shit. Rachel?

Did I even matter at all to her, or was I a toy?

It doesn't matter. Fuck Rachel. Fuck Max, too. Never trust, never again.

But I did say that this week had been the best week of my life…

Alright, I'm just going to call Max, then disappear. So long, fair well; go fuck yourselves. Goodnight.

I reach for my cell phone and call Max, rehearsing what I'm going to say in my head.

She doesn't answer.

Okay. I hang up and wait a minute. Then, I call again.

Still no answer.

Fuck, this complicates shit. I'm just going to have to go to Blackwell and talk to Max in person. Yeah… In fact, this isn't a complication at all. When Max abandoned me, she was a piece of chicken shit and didn't even tell me that she was going until the day. I'm better than that. I'll give her enough warning and say goodbye and be the person that she never was. Good plan, it'll show her.

I collect my stuff from upstairs – some clothes, my pills, the money from Blackwell, that photo of me, mom and dad on the Constitution and a photo of me holding bongo, my weed, some booze, David's gun and some ammunition – and head out from the house for the last time.

Once more unto the breach, dear assholes.

* * *

When I'm driving, it feels like the road could go on forever, like I can just run away from everything and be free. But then the road does end, the same way it always does. The same way that everything does. I'm always driving, but until now I could never get away from Arcadia Bay. Like a black hole, it keeps you trapped, stuck in the worst moment of your life. You can struggle, apply force, and squirm, but you're going to have to be lucky and smart and strong if you ever want to get away.

But even then, you can only get so far. Eventually, you can't help but turn away from the rest of the universe and look back at the event horizon – that all-consuming point in space and time that makes the black hole the monster it is. Then you are royally fucked.

The truck comes to a gradual stop by the side of the road just off Nicholas Angel Street. There's no way to tell now, but five years ago the whole side of the road was covered in flowers and letters and cards. I remember that dad's friends from work came and laid his badge down next to the photograph that Joyce left. And I remember that me and Max came here just after Dad's funeral, while everyone else was still at my house, and looked at all the things that people from around town had left.

"I'm really sorry, Chloe," she said.

Did I say anything?

All I can remember is Max standing next to me whilst I stared down towards the intersection, thinking that if my dad had turned left and been going just a little bit faster he could have gotten out of the way.

"My mom and dad said that if you or your mom need anything then you can have it, and that if you want to stay at our house or if you want me to stay with you for a few weeks then that's fine."

If I had replied, would Max have kept in touch?

Too late to think about that now, and most of us don't have the power to re-wind time. Us mere mortals can only move forward.

I take the truck out of park and continue onwards. The radio is playing some faux indie electric crap, the kind of BS that Max would love to listen to, probably while she's going down on that asshole Warren… Fucking gross!

Well, don't worry Max. Soon, everything'll be back to normal. I'll be out of your life and you can go watch Planet of the Apes.

" _Why are you going?" you'll say. "What happened to lasting forever? What happened to partners in time? What happened to never leaving me?"_

Things change.

" _Chloe, don't do this. I know that what Rachel did hurt you and I know that William's death hit you hard. And I know that I'm a bitch for not calling you for five years, but we can move past that. Please, Chloe, don't go. I need you with me now."_

Too little, too late, Max. I clearly don't mean anything to you or anyone else in this crater to be, so you can all go to hell.

" _Chloe, I wouldn't have gone back in time to save you all those times if you didn't mean anything to me. I wouldn't have gone swimming if you didn't mean anything to me… I wouldn't have kissed you if you didn't mean anything to me. You know that I care about you. Please, Chloe… You're the only…"_

What about Warren or Kate?

" _Warren? Warren is my friend. Just my friend. He probably likes me, but so fucking what? It doesn't mean shit. If it makes you feel any better, challenge him to a duel."_

And Kate? You glommed over her.

" _Chloe, Kate_ _ **nearly killed herself**_ _. She thought that her life was so shit that the only way it would get better is if it ended."_

Boo-fucking-hoo.

" _Chloe Price, you are not this nasty."_

Then you don't know enough about me.

" _I know that you tried to kill yourself."_

And? What do you care? You weren't even fucking here!

" _And that's my fault. I wasn't there for you when I should have been, when I wish I would have been. I'm just glad that Rachel was. The only way that I can make up for not being here for you then is being here for you now, and by being there for Kate."_

So you want to be to Kate what Rachel was to me? Fine, go ahead.

" _You're putting words in my mouth, Chloe. I just want to help my friend. Listen, I don't know what Rachel did or didn't do and I don't know where she's gone. To be honest, I'd be pissed too if my girlfriend had done… that, but I'm not Rachel, Chloe. I'm me, Max Caulfield."_

The same Max Caulfield who left me!

" _And the Max Caulfield who came back! The same Max Caulfield who would have shot Frank for you, Chloe. The same Max Caulfield who kissed you. The Max Caulfield that… Oh, fuck it. The same Max Caulfield that loves you."_

Max… Shit. No. Forget that shit and continue forward, Chloe. Dreams, wants and hopes are for stupid people.

Fuck her.

Fuck everybody.

* * *

I feel like an idiot, not only for coming back to Blackwell so soon after the break in and with David still on the outs with Joyce, but I guess for coming at all. If I wasn't so stupid I would have skipped town already.

I park next to Warren's piece of junk, across from the wall where me and Rachel used to sit and smoke and light a cigarette. It seemed like a nice place then, someplace to disappear and just be quiet together. Now it just seems like a wall that'll make your ass cold if you sit on it too long.

Was she seeing Frank then?

Or, did that came later?

I guess it doesn't matter now.

I get out of the truck and stare at Warren's car. It's still a piece of shit and still in the spot it was on Monday, when I saved Max before Nathan could… What Nathan Prescott does. I guess Warren helped, too.

Walking through Blackwell is like walking through a tornado, always has been, but now it seems worse. The only difference between this place and a tornado is that you might be picked up by wind or struck by debris in a tornado, in Blackwell you'll be hit by memories: ginormous, piercing memories that leave you broken or laughing on the floor, sometimes both, like the time that I broke into the school and then went swimming with Max. You can't avoid these memories, any more than you can avoid the debris. The only way to stay safe is to stay clear of the tornado. So that's what I'm doing. One last visit then I am gone forever.

" _Why did you want to kiss me?"_

Why not? It was a dare, Max. We used to dare each other to climb down my window.

" _Neither of us ever did though."_

Not until it was time.

" _Until it was time? Meaning that we were always going to climb down?"_

I guess.

" _Then were we always going to kiss?"_

I guess… Maybe. I mean, you could have not kissed me.

" _But I did kiss you, though. You asked and I kissed. Why did you ask? And tell me the truth."_

I was teasing.

" _There's just you and me here, Chloe. Be honest."_

I… I wanted to kiss you. It was nice to be with someone who didn't think I was a fuck up and who thought I was beautiful. Someone who I thought was beautiful. And smart. And hella fucking talented. After we had that conversation last night in the pool, I guess… I wanted to be able to do what you can do, to re-wind time and spend a long time in the middle of that conversation, to re-live how it felt. It was a good change, Max. I didn't feel lonely or afraid. It was a nice change from being inside my own head all the time, you know?

" _So you decided that you wanted to stick your tongue in mine?"_

I guess... Not that you had to put it that way.

" _Why did you pull away?"_

Your morning breath could attract flies and slay dragons.

" _Chloe… You promised me you'd be serious."_

Because… I was afraid that you were just kissing me for shits and giggles, to prove that you were as hardcore as I am, and I didn't want that. I wanted you to want me the same way that I wanted you.

" _Please,"_ she'd chuckle and put her hand over mine. _"I saw a locked door and my first thought was "bomb," then I climbed into your bed and partially initiated our kiss. We both know I am hella more hardcore than you."_

Eat me, Max.

" _Is that another dare?"_

I make my way across the field in front of the school, past the statue of Blackwood's long dead founder and the steps to the dorms, and towards the girl's dormitory. It's funny, you know. The last time I was here, I hated this place. I hated the fact that it was where I went to school and I hated the fact that David ruled supreme here and that my mom couldn't tell him off for being an asshole. The only good thing about this place was Rachel, and the place was still terrible.

Now?

Now, it's not so bad, I guess. I mean, David is still an asshole, but you took him down and you're not much taller than Smurfette. Nathan Prescott has been expelled, and we did break in and swim. Me and Rachel did some pretty cool stuff, but we never did anything that fun.

I guess I want to stay, Max. I don't want to leave. But I need a reason.

" _Then don't leave. Stay here with me. We'll save the world and then start a punk band."_

But… I don't even know if you'd really react the way you're reacting? What if I get up there and you're with… What if I'm wrong?

" _And what if you're right? If you don't try, then you'll never find out, will you?"_

No, I guess I won't.

I check the wall chart on the first floor and then, when I see that Max isn't mentioned, make my way up to the second floor. The upstairs is a duplicate of the first floor, with a duplicate wallchart close to the staircase, a duplicate colour scheme and a duplicate floorplan. It doesn't take long for me to see that she's at the far end of the hallway.

Okay.

Most of the doors are closed. I imagine that most of the girls who live there have gone out to eat or smoke or whatever the kids get up to nowadays. I pass one open door, though, insider I can hear two girls talking about buying Lindsey Stirling tickets, whoever the fuck Lindsey Stirling is.

'I'm not sure Kate would like Lindsey Stirling. She likes classical music.'

'Lindsey Stirling is classical music. She plays violin.'

'She really isn't. What about Yo-yo Ma?'

'Who?'

Continuing onward, I notice that one of the rooms near Max's room has been shut-off by police wire and its whiteboard covered in get-well messages. Must be Kate Marsh's room. I consider leaving a message but decide not to. She'd probably find it creepy.

I come to Max's room and can't help but frown at the godawful face that someone drew on her whiteboard.

It's only now, when I've balled up my first to knock, does it occur to me that Max might not be in. Seconds seem to drag into minutes as I work up the courage to knock. It sounds stupid, but I just feel… Dorky? Nervous?

Shit _._

I give the hard wooden door three hard knocks.

No answer.

I take a deep breath. 'Hey Max,' I say and start pacing. 'It's me, Chloe. Open up.'

Three more knocks.

Why aren't you answering?

'I tried to call you on your cell but you weren't answering. I… ummn… I wanted to speak to you. You were – are – right, about… Well, you're right about pretty much everything. I'm really sorry that I said that stuff to you in the car and I just wanted to speak to you. I wanted to say… I'm sorry.'

No reply. I sit down with my back against Max's door.

'Max, I was going to leave today, but I'd like to speak to you first. I'd really like you to talk me out of it. You're good at that. You really don't need to say much, really… Just be there and say the stuff that you do.'

No reply.

'Shit, I hope you're not with Warren,' I say quietly before shouting: 'Max!'

There's a noise at the end of the hallway. I turn away from my hands and the scar around my left wrist, towards the two girls now standing at the far end of the hallway, the same ones who couldn't decide on classical music. They're both blondes; the taller and is wearing a Bigfoots cheerleader uniform and the shorter one looks like she wants to interrogate me.

'Who the fuck are you?' says the cheerleader.

'And what the fuck do you want with Max?' adds her friend.

'Don't worry, I'm not here to cause shit. I'm Chloe, Max's friend.'

'Hey,' the tall one says. 'I do know you. You're that girl that Trevor talks about, the one who hangs around with Frank the drug dealer and runs weed for him. Chloe Price. You put the fliers up around town about Rachel Amber, too. I've seen your truck around school.'

'Used to. I severed my friendship with Frank when he said that he didn't like Kiki's Delivery Service. Now I'm considering charity work. You are?'

'Step away from the door or I'll call the police,' the short one says.

'Juliet,' the tall one says to her friend, 'She is Max's friend, I saw her drop Max off before. I really don't think she means any harm.'

'You just said she's a drug dealer.'

'I did, yeah, but if Max hangs around with her then she's probably cool.'

'Didn't you say that when you saw Max before, she looked like a zombie and you thought she was crying?'

Crying? Shit.

'Yeah,' the tall one says and turns to me, 'I did… What happened, Chloe?'

'We had a… I tore into her.'

'Why?'

'I'd rather not get into it with someone dressed like a cheerleader who I've just met,' I say. 'No offence.'

'None taken. Have you tried calling her?'

'Yeah, but she's not answering.'

'She could've gone to hang out with Warren,' says the tall one.

'Nope,' Juliet interrupts. 'According to the grapevine, Warren asked Max out but she said no. Since then he's been sulking and trying to find a girl to go to the movies with him. Apparently he got tickets for The Planet of the Apes.'

'Oh shit,' Juliet says. 'I remember you now. You drive the TWN PKS truck that took off with Max on Monday.'

'Yeah,' I reply.

'What about going to see Kate?'

'That's what I was going to tell you before we heard Chloe, here,' Juliet says. 'Kate isn't having any visitors until tomorrow.'

'Does she hang out with anyone else?' I say. 'Or go anywhere when she's upset?'

Both girls look at each other.

'Not really,' Juliet says. 'She sometimes hangs out in the bathroom during class when she's having a panic attack, but why would she go do that when she's not in class?'

'She wouldn't, the tall one says. 'She was just coming back in when I got back before and I didn't see her leave… Is her door locked?'

The cheerleader marches towards me and the door and jiggles the door handle.

'Shit,' she says. 'It's locked.'

'Max never locks her bedroom, even when she goes out.'

'No she doesn't,' the tall girl says and bangs on the door. 'Max!'

No reply.

'Juliet, go get the warden's key.'

'Right,' Juliet says and goes running off to Dana's room.

'Max,' the tall girl shouts to the door. 'It's Dana. Your friend Chloe is here. We're all very worried, so we're coming in.'

'Why do you have a key for Max's room?'

'I'm the floor warden, Chloe,' Dana says. 'It's a master key.'

Juliet comes running from Dana's bedroom, key in hand. Instinctively, I move out of the way and stand next to Dana. Jesus this girl is tall.

'Max,' Juliet says and inserts the key. 'We're coming in. Step away from the door.'

It doesn't take more than a second to open the door. With the collage of cut-ups sitting on the dresser and the message on the wall, written in red paint or, dear god no, blood, it's all too clear what happened.

'Nobody messes with me bitch,' Dana reads the message on the wall. 'Shit... What the fuck happened here?'

I don't answer.

My head is spinning and it's like I can feel hands gripping my throat, tightening, choking me. I think I'm going to vomit and the moment seems to stretch on infinity, an eternity stuck in front of that fucking horrible message and that abomination of art work. I already know the culprit.

Please, god, no. Not you too. No. Shit… Max, I can't breathe… Max, I can't breathe… Max, I can't breathe!

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.**

* * *

 **Alan Wake is the property of Remedy and Gone Home is the property of Fullbright. They probably don't exist in the same universe as Life is Strange canonically, but this is fan fiction and I can take liberties.**

 **(If you're wondering, I did want to imply an eventual super-happy ending to Gone Home where Sam and Lonnie stay together and Sam's parents learn to accept their daughter's sexuality.)**

 **No claim of ownership is made of any intellectual property or copyrights in this chapter and none is to be honoured. I own nothing.**

* * *

 **Author's notes can be found at Something Wicked This Way Blogs on Tumblr.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Trigger Warning: This chapter deals with the aftermath of Kate's suicide attempt, Chloe's own depression/history of self-destructive behavior, and the sensation of losing a parent/being abandoned. This chapter kicked my ass emotionally and _I wrote it_ \- although that probably wasn't helped by the fact that I gave up smoking part way through writing this chapter. If you feel that you should probably avoid this chapter, do so. I'll fill in the gaps later.**

 **I'm sorry it took so long to research, write and edit it. At least there are about 9,000 more words of it now.**

* * *

 **2013\. Prime Timeline 18:36**

Max, where the fuck are you?

'Pick up the fucking phone, Joyce,' I say as I push the car into going 80. 'This is an emergency!'

'Chloe, put the phone on loudspeaker and put it on the dashboard. And for God's sake, slow down.'

'Shut up Daria,' I say, one hand with the phone held up to my ear, the other on the steering wheel.

'It's Dana.'

'Whatever.'

The phone rings a couple more times, each one louder than the one proceeding it, each one pissing me off more and more. Come on Joyce!

'Hello,' Joyce says as she finally picks up the phone, 'Two Wales Diner, home of Arcadia Bay's finest bacon…'

'Mom,' I reply, 'is Max there?'

'Chloe, what's this about?'

'Mom, is Max there?'

'No, dear. What's this all about?'

'Fuck…'

'Chloe!'

'Sorry… Mom, I've lost Max.'

'What do you mean you've lost Max? You haven't been arguing, have you?'

The truck darts quickly from one lane to the other. 'Mom, just… Max is missing, Mom... I don't know where she is.'

'How do you know she's missing? Have you gone to Blackwell and checked?'

'Yes, Mom. I found a few people there who said that she hadn't been out of her room in a few hours and when we got into her room we found that she'd been threatened.'

'Threatened? By whom?'

'Nathan Prescott.'

'Who's Nathan Prescott? Chloe, what's this all about?'

I end the call and throw the phone into the back seat. 'Oh, fuck it.'

The truck passes a slow procession of logging trucks and I look out the driver's side window onto the bay. In the distance, there's some sort of commotion. Big enough that I can see some Coast Guard boats. Not important, though, not now. Must find Max.

In the passenger side, Buffy the Vampire Slayer clutches Kate's damned bunny cage close to her chest like it's the Maltese Falcon. She turns to me and says, 'Slow down, Chloe. Will driving this recklessly help to find Max any quicker?'

'I'm not driving recklessly, I'm driving quickly. There's a difference.'

Am I driving recklessly?

How the hell should I know? You need to think to tell these things. I'm not thinking. I don't want to think. I haven't been thinking since I saw that fucking message on Max's wall because I know that if I think, I'll slow down, and I can't do that. All I can do is look for Max. I need to find Max. Now!

This is automatic. Instinct.

Outside, the sun has gone pale and started to set; the sky has taken a honey golden and vanilla hue. Black and gray clouds stretch out, far into the horizon, across the bay. Looks nice. Just like yesterday.

I look to the rabbit sitting on Dana's lap. 'Did you really have to bring it?'

'If we're going to the hospital, then we might as well bring Kate her rabbit like she asked.'

'Whatever. Has Trevor texted you back yet?'

'No.'

'Shit… Why the fuck is he taking so long? The bus should be every fifteen minutes.'

'There might have been an accident on the main road or something.'

'Then he should call and tell us that. Call Whatshername.'

'Juliet? Yeah.'

'And put it on loud speaker.'

'Yeah.'

She reaches into her purse, pulls up Juliet's contact info and places her cell phone down on Ray Bradbunny's cage. It only takes a few rings before she picks up.

'Hey,' Juliet says from the other end. 'Where you at?'

'Nothing at Max's old house, the lighthouse, or the place where Chloe says she and Max used to hang out.'

'Shit. Where are you going now?'

'I'm still with Chloe. We're going to check the medical center, see if she's visiting Kate… Or if she's just there.'

'What about you?' I interrupt.

'I went the guy in the security department, Pete, but like you said he was less than helpful.'

'What did he say?'

'He said that until Max is breaking curfew, there's nothing he can do. He said that she might have gone out or something.'

'Motherfucker,' I say, punctuating my sentence by striking the steering wheel. 'What about the message?'

'He said that he'll report it to Samuel ASAP.'

'What about the police?'

'They said that they're having trouble with an incident on the beach. They said to call back after Max is confirmed as having broken curfew.'

'Fucking figures…'

'What else?' Dana says.

'Not much. It's three and a half hours until curfew, almost everyone is still out.'

'Fuck!'

'It's not all bad. I managed to rope Brooke into helping me have a look through Max's laptop and she managed to talk Warren into having a look around Arcadia Bay in his car. I also found Taylor in the bathroom and she… Wait, I think Brooke wants to talk to you.'

'Put her on,' Dana says while I'm left wondering who the hell these people are.

'Okay,' Juliet sys.

There's a shuffling on the other line and then a new voice says hello.

'Yo,' I say. 'Is this Brooke?'

'Yes. Is this Chloe?'

'Only when I'm not on the internet.'

'Hi Brooke,' Dana interrupts, 'what have you got for us?'

'Well, for a start this message on the wall is fucking creepy.'

'Yeah,' Dana says, 'we know.'

'Okay… Judging from all the books scattered about her room, Max was researching time travel.'

'Yeah, we know,' I reply.

Would Max want people to know about everything?

Shit.

Better play it cool.

'She was helping me turn Safety Not Guaranteed into a musical. What else?'

'Okay… No need to get snappy. Like everyone else in this school, Max doesn't bother with a password.'

'Good. Does her internet history tell us anything?'

'Gimme a minute.'

'Alright,' I say as the truck takes a left into Suzanne Weber Avenue.

Dana looks to me, obviously surprised, her fingers still clenched around the wires of Ray Bradbunny's cage. 'You're really writing a musical?'

'We're writing it together. Max handles the music and the quantum physics research, I do the lyrics. Very At The Drive In meets Bikini Kill meets Syd Matters.'

'This sounds… nice.'

'Guys?' says Brooke.

'Yeah?'

'Mostly Max's browsing history for the past week or so is to do with researching time travel, some camera stores, her email – which is password protected – and local news… She only went on three sites today, though.'

'Yeah?' Dana says.

'Yeah, she torrented I'm Wide Awake It's Morning at about 10:30 am.'

'What?'

'It's an album by Bright Eyes,' I say. 'We… We listened to a song from it this morning. She must have liked it enough to download it.'

Brooke continues. 'Oh, Max's phone runs cloud services. I think I can track it.'

'Great,' I say as the car shoots into Tillamook Street. 'Do it.'

'Alright…' Brooke says. 'Shit.'

'What?'

'It's password protected.'

'Can't you hack it?'

'It's gonna take time.'

'Try AkiRoss2001,' I say.

'How do I spell that?'

The truck slows down a little as it comes in sight of the Arcadia Bay Medical Centre. 'Capitalize the A and the R, and make it all one word.'

'Okay…' Brooke says, 'Alright, I'm in.'

'Great,' Dana says, 'anything?'

'Give me a minute, it's running… it's running… Shit.'

'What?'

'It's out of range.'

'Fuck!'

'What does that mean?'

'Not much. To be honest it could just mean that she's somewhere with no signal, or it could mean that she's caught in the fifth dimension.'

'Okay,' Dana says, 'keep trying.'

'Will do. Do you want me to put Juliet back on?'

'Sure.'

'Alright. Here she is.'

I take the turn into the hospital's visitor's parking lot. Without saying a word, I find somewhere out of the way by a hedge on the edge of the parking lot, somewhere I won't get another parking ticket, and park.

There's a rustle as Juliet takes the phone from Brooke.

'I'm here,' she replies. 'What do you want me to do?'

Dana leans forward. 'Call Warren. Tell him to check Two Whales Diner. She might've gone there.

'Yeah, and tell him to watch out for an RV with the license plate B-R-K-B-D. Max got into an argument with Frank, the guy who owns it, before.'

'Will do, Chloe,' Juliet says. 'Anything else?'

'We'll call you when we know more. Until then, stay in the dorms. Wherever Max is, she might come back.'

'And if she does,' I say, 'tell her to call me.'

'Will do. See you later Dana,' Juliet says and then hangs up.

'Shit,' Dana says. 'How could Blackwell's security be that stupid?'

'You've met David Madsen?'

'Well… Yeah, but I thought Pete was nice.'

'If Madsen hired him then he's obviously an asshole,' I say and look out my window. 'Madsen only likes people like him.'

Looking out at the medical centre, monolith like against the sky, it looks like a red-brick tombstone dedicatedt to the town that just hasn't died yet. I fucking hate this place.

Dana looks like she hates it here too.

'Come on,' I say and get out of the truck.

I reach into my jacket pocket for a cigarette but decide not too light up. No time to smoke.

'Do you know where we're going?' Dana says.

'Yeah…' I turn to face look at her and am surprised to see that she's holding Kate's rabbit cage.

'What?' she says.

'Leave the rabbit, Dana.'

'Why?'

'It's an animal.'

'And?'

'It's a hospital,' I say. 'And I'm a punk and you're dressed like a cheerleader. Between us, we're an awkward blemish on somebody's internet history. Add the rabbit and you move the whole situation into surrealism.'

'Oh… Shit,' Dana replies. 'You're right, I should have changed.'

'You didn't need to come at all. I can find Max by myself.'

'I'm sure,' she says and puts the rabbit to the front seat. 'But now that I'm here, we can coordinate with the Blackwell people.'

'Blackwell assholes.'

'You're not wrong, Chloe, but if they help find Max…'

'Whatever. Come on.'

We make our way through the parking lot without speaking. A cold wind rushes through the parking lot, making this place feel even more like a graveyard. I wish I had the time to smoke. I can't stop, though. For Max and for myself I can't stay in this place for too long.

Behind me, Dana stares intently at her phone like a cat stares at a mouse trap, waiting. I wonder how she avoids the cars. I wonder why she hates it here. Suddenly, I hear the first few bars of Get Lucky coming from Dana's phone.

'I've got a text from Trevor,' she says.

'And?'

'He said that the bus driver hasn't seen Max all day.'

'Fuck.'

'He says he got on the bus to see if she's at any of the bus stops but so far he hasn't found anything, and he's currently stuck in a traffic jam on main street.'

'Double fuck.'

'I've told him to get off when the bus comes here so I can meet up with him.'

'Good plan, I work better alone.'

'I can imagine so,' she says.

At the front of the medical centre is a single ambulance bay that's little more than a drive-thru with a bright green and white sign above the door that says "Arcadia Bay Medical Centre: ER." I wasn't conscious the last time I was here, but it hasn't changed much since the last time I was here and conscious, though… when Max was with me. The day that dad died.

Inside, they've changed the paint scheme from clotted mushy pea green to anti-septic blue, but the seats are still the same… the counter… the sad, concerned looks on the nurse's face, it's all the same. The air is cold, and it stinks of anti-septic soap and bleach.

A loud gust of wind crashes against the back of my neck and somewhere outside I can hear a teenage girl crying. The ER's automatic door opens. I stop and turn and it's so clear. I can remember a young girl, with long blonde hair wearing ABPD windbreaker over a purple-grey _Arcadia Bay, Oregon_ sweater, walking into the ER - her footsteps staggered and uncoordinated. The young girl's back is arched and her face is hidden behind her hands, muffling the sound of her to the young girl walks her friend, a shorter, delicate thing with a pony tail, a golden headband and a look on her face that screams that she's just seen her world end.

"Chloe," she says and wraps her arms around her friend as they continue towards me. "I'm here. I'm right here."

My throat closes and my fist clenches and my head starts to spin. Time seems to come to a standstill. A tear slides down my cheek. I think I'm going to hurl.

'Chloe?' Dana says 'Are you coming?'

I wipe the tear away and slowly turn away from the memory of that poor girl, towards Dana.

'Are you alright?' she says.

I turn back to the doorway and it's just the doorway. No memories: no me, no Max, just a reflection in the glass doors: me, standing alone; outside, a slowly setting sun. Just the now. I _really_ fucking hate this place.

'Yeah,' I say, 'just a bad memory. Let's go.'

It's only a few steps to the counter and the nurse sitting there, her head buried in a pile of form.

'Yo,' I say and bang my hands against the counter. 'I'm looking for Maxine Caulfield, only answers to Max. Or Mad Max. She's about this tall, has brown hair, blue eyes and dressed like she spent the 90's as a Pearl Jam roadie. She likes taking photographs. Have you seen her?'

The nurse slowly looks up from her forms on the desk and stares at me, the same way that I would have stared at my mom if she'd interrupted my wake and bake routine, the way that says "Thanks for the interruption, asshole."

'Excuse me?' she says.

'Sorry,' Dana says. 'We're looking for someone. Her name is Maxine Caulfield. Is she here?'

'She's about this tall…'

'I got all that, dear,' the nurse says. 'When's her birthday?'

'I don't know,' Dana says.

'September 21st, 1995.'

'Okay…' the nurse says and wheels herself over to the computer in the corner. 'Maxine Caulfield, you say?'

'Yeah, but she prefers Max.'

'Any middle names?'

'Nope.'

She types Max's name into the computer and then her birthdate. There's a slight hum as the computer's twenty year old processor tries to handle the task and then a loud screech from the modem. Christ, this place has an even older computer than I do!

'Nothing,' the nurse says.

'What?' I say.

'The computer says that she's not here. Who told you she was?'

'No one,' says Dana.

'No one…' the nurse repeats. 'And why did you think she'd be here?'

'It was just a thought,' I say.

'Is she missing?'

'We don't know,' Dana says. 'We're Blackwell students, and she wasn't in her dorm when we checked.'

'Have you checked Two Whales? I know how much you kids love hanging out at that place.'

'I called there before and my mom said that she isn't there,' I say.

'And we've also sent a man to double check,' adds Dana.

'Well, if she's been missing for over 24 hours, then you really should consider filing a missing person's report with the sheriff's department.'

'She's only been missing since lunch time.'

'Oh,' the nurse says. 'In that case I'd suggest going back to Blackwell and waiting and maybe letting the security department know. It might be a case where she's gone out with her boyfriend…'

'She doesn't have a boyfriend!' I say, hella louder than I probably should have... Fuck.

'Okay, dear, there's no need to get mad. Could she have gone out for the day with friends?'

'We're her friends,' Dana says. 'Us and Kate Marsh.'

'Okay… Well, the best thing that you can do is to go back to Blackwell and wait. If she's not back by curfew, call the police. Even if it hasn't been 24 hours, then they should still be informed and begin an initial investigation.'

'Okay, thanks,' Dana says. 'We'll do that.'

'I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help, dears. Is there anything else that I can help you girls with?'

'No, that's all,' Dana replies as we back away from the nurse' station.

We head into the bowels of the hospital, towards the elevator that leads to the third floor and Psychiatric Department, me leading the way with Dana close behind.

'Well, at least that Max isn't here,' she says.

'Yeah.'

I can hear the chords of Get Lucky again. Without speaking, Dana reaches into her handbag. 'I'm getting another text…'

'Yeah, I got that,' I say. 'Is it about Max?'

'Yeah…' she replies. 'Warren's checked Two Whales and found nothing there. Apparently that RV that you warned Juliet about is still there, but Frank is nowhere to be seen, neither is his dog. Could he have gone on campus and abducted Max?'

'I don't think… No. Sergeant Shit For Brains knows Frank and what he does and hates him. If he, or anyone else on the security team, saw Frank whilst on patrol, Frank would have been arrested. Plus, how could he have gotten Max out of her room without her screaming?'

'Does he have her number? Could he have called her? Could he have slipped Max something?'

'I doubt it. Like I said, they're not exactly in any kind of friendly or business relationship.'

'This is so freaking weird. I saw Max come back in and haven't left my room or been in class all day. How could she have just disappeared from a locked dorm room?'

'I don't…' Then it hits me: last night when we broke into the principal's office, how she got behind the door.

Did she lock the door then rewind? No… That doesn't make any sense. Why would she have done that?

She didn't run away, did she?

Why would she?

Was it me? Was it… Oh.

'Fuck.'

'What?' Dana says.

'Nothing,' I reply coldly. 'Let's just go do this think then get back on the road.'

We come to the elevator, big enough to fit a hospital bed, and make our way to the third floor.

'Do you really think Max might've gone to see her?' Dana says.

'It's a possibility,' I reply, sigh, take my hat off and rub my fingers through my hair. 'I don't know why she wouldn't pick her phone up, though.'

'Could she have gone back to Seattle?'

'I don't know…' I say, my attention drawn by a poster on the wall advertising flu vaccinations. 'I think she'd leave a note or take some clothes or something.'

'Could she have lost her phone?'

'I don't know.'

I remember this elevator... I remember being on a gurney, years ago, in here. I remember the feeling of stitches and having a bandage wrapped around my arm. I remember the grogginess. And I remember my mom, standing by the side of the gurney, holding my hand.

"Everything's going to be all right," I remember her saying as the door opened to the third floor. 'Do you want me to call that Rachel girl? Or Max? I could call Max. I think I still have her mom's number on my phone…'

Oh, Mom…

'She still hasn't turned in a photo for the Everyday Heroes competition… Could she have gone shooting? I mean, if you guys had a fight then she might've gone out into the forest to blow some steam. Could she have done that?'

'I don't fucking know, Dana!' I reply. 'Please, just… Fuck. Just stop talking. You're not helping, you're just talking.'

The door opens.

'Come on,' I say as I lead the way out of the elevator into a hallway. I have no idea what's on the left or the right, but straight forward is the Psychiatry Department.

I have no idea what's on the left or the right, but straight forward is the Psychiatry Department.

It feels hella shitty to be back here, and I feel bad for being an ass to Dana too, but she's not helping. She's just talking and talking, like a parrot, and I don't need a parrot. I need Max. She was so good at this investigation stuff. I thought… I thought that she was going to help me find Rachel and we could all be happy. Then she helped me find the real Rachel, and now I'm back where I started from.

There's a nurse's station in front of the department and some chairs. Like the other one downstairs, Nurse Ratched up here sits at her desk with her face buried in a stack of insurance forms.

'Hi,' Dana says as we approach the counter. 'We're here to see Kate Marsh.'

'She's not having any visitors today.'

'Yes, I know, but we were summoned.'

She looks up from the stack of white. 'Miss Marsh summoned you herself?'

'Yes… Well, no…'

'She's not supposed to have a cell phone.'

'She's her friend,' I interrupt and point to Dana, 'and Kate works with my mom as a part of that Meals on Wheels thing. Kate's dad called my mom and asked if we could bring Kate's bunny rabbit.'

'You can't bring a rabbit into a hospital, dear.'

'We know,' Dana says, 'but we were still asked to deliver.'

'Hmmnn… Miss Marsh really shouldn't have any visitors that aren't family members until tomorrow. I can't go against that… Her family is here, though... Well, most of them. I can go get someone from her family.'

'Thank you,' Dana says. 'That would be great.'

'The guy who called my mom was Kate's dad, Richard Marsh,' I say. 'Is he here?'

'He is,' the nurse says and points to a couple of chairs. 'You girls sit there and I'll go find Mr Marsh.'

'Thank you,' Dana says.

We sit down on the benches across from each other in silence. We sit there for about five minutes, occasionally watching as they bring in a patient from another part of the building or moving equipment in or out of the ward. Otherwise, though, we just sit in silence. I should have brought my phone. It's too quiet in here. I feel like that guy in… Jaws.

Max, where the fuck are you?

'Can I ask you a question, Chloe?' Dana says.

Sigh. 'If you must.'

'Right… What were you and Max arguing about?'

'It doesn't matter.'

'It might.'

'It doesn't.'

How long has it been since I last saw Max? Less than 12 hours? Doesn't sound like shit compared to five years, does it? Maybe she has gone back to Seattle. Should I call her parents and ask, or would that just frighten them?

My hands are shaking. I wish I knew what to do.

'You know,' Dana says. 'I didn't even know Max that well before Monday. I mean, I guess I still don't, but she was there when I needed help and she listened when I needed someone to listen to me, and that means something. And she did what I was supposed to do, she was there for Kate Marsh when she was being bullied, when I should have helped her.

'Is this going anywhere?'

'Max is a hero, Chloe. There's nothing that anyone can say that could possibly change that. It's clear as day that you care about Max… a lot, which is good because people should have somebody in their life who cares about them that much and in that way. What I'm trying to say is that if you're afraid that I'll think less of Max because of what happened, then don't worry. You can trust me, Chloe.'

I look up down at my boots. My throat is raw and my body aches. I feel like I'm going to hurl and more tired than I have in months.

'We weren't arguing. Not really…'

I don't tell her the rest. I don't tell her that Rachel Amber was my friend, that I was in love with her, and I thought that we were going to run away from this bastard place together. I don't tell her that Rachel was probably using me, that I asked Rachel if she was with Frank dozens of times and she lied straight to my face.

I don't tell her that Max came back and saved me from being shot by the bastard who tried to drug me, or the fact that since Max got in my truck everything has been better than it has been in years. I don't tell her that I fucking ruined it, either, or that Max was trying to make everything better, like she always does and that I pushed her away because that's what I do.

I don't tell her that this is the place where my dad died, or that this is the place where I was taken after I tried to kill myself.

I don't tell her any of that.

All I do is sigh, cross my arms and say, 'You wouldn't understand.'

'Fine,' she replies, 'be that way.'

Fuck you, Dana.

After a few minutes, a tall man with glasses and a face that looks like it was stolen from American Gothic appears from behind the closed doors behind the desk. His suit is disheveled and it looks like he hasn't shaved for days. Actually, he looks a little like Commissioner Gordon. Must be Kate's dad.

The nurse stands and greets him warmly and then points towards me and Dana.

He nods and turns to us. 'Hello… I assume one of you is Joyce Madsen's daughter?'

'Here,' I say and stand up. 'You're Kate dad?'

'Indeed I am. Forgive me, Miss Madsen…'

'Price.'

'Miss Price,' he says, 'my apologies… I thought that Max Caulfield, the girl who saved Katie, had my daughter's rabbit?'

'She does. Did,' Dana says. 'We can't find her at the moment, so we decided to bring Ray here ourselves.

'Is Max Caulfield here?'

'You two are the first people to visit Katie,' says Kate's father.

'Fuck…'

Dana smiles. 'I'm sorry, Mr Marsh. We were really hoping that she was here. How is Kate?'

'Kate is… They call it a seventy-two hour hold, but I'm told she's doing well. She's eating and speaking about it… Her doctor says that's good.'

Mr Marsh speaks slowly and calmly. It's the voice of a person who hasn't slept in days and whose blood is forty two percent coffee, the voice of a man whose been silently screaming at his God. He looks like hell. He looks like he could collapse any minute.

'That's great,' Dana says. 'I'm glad that she's doing well.'

'Yes. Excuse me, but who are you, dear?'

'My name is Dana Ward. I go to school with Kate.'

'She hasn't mentioned you.'

'We… We didn't really interact much. I'm really sorry.'

'Why?'

'For… everything.'

'Did you do any of it? Were you one of the people who spread that awful video?'

'No,' Dana says, clearly started. 'Jesus… No, sir.'

'Then, I suppose you don't have anything to be sorry about. Well, except for taking God's name in vain.'

'I didn't do anything to help her, though. I didn't notice how depressed she was. I should have been looking out for her, and I didn't.'

'I suppose a lot of people didn't…' he says. 'But I suppose if you're willing to atone, then I'm sure that Kate will help you make amends.'

'I'd like that.'

'Would you like to see her?'

'I thought that Kate wasn't allowed any visitors until tomorrow?'

'No visitors that aren't family members, no. But I'm sure that if Kate's alright with it, then we might be able to convince her doctor otherwise.'

Dana smiles. 'As long as long as Kate's alright with it, I'm sure it would be fine. I'd really like to apologize to her.'

Mr. Marsh smiles at Dana and then turns to me. 'I'm not sure if you know my daughter, Ms Price, but…'

'I don't. It's fine. If I'm going to be honest, I'm mostly here to look for Max.'

'I understand. It's good that you did this favour for your friend. I know that after she saved my little girl, Max needs every good friend she can get.'

'Thanks,' I say. 'Do you want me to go get the rabbit now?'

'I might be able to convince her doctor to let Kate see Miss Ward here, but even I might have problems convincing them to let her have her rabbit. If you wouldn't mind going and collecting him, I can take him off your hands outside.'

'That's fine,' I say and then turn to Dana 'Do you want me to wait for you?'

Dana looks at me as if she's about to tell me that she ran over my cat.

'I think that if I can see Kate, then I'll probably be a while,' she says. 'If it's okay with you, Chloe, after I'm done here I think I'll go back to Blackwell with Trevor. I might be able to coordinate with everyone better if I'm there.'

'Yeah. Sure.'

'I'll get Trevor to send you a text if we hear anything, okay?'

'Sure,' I reply.

'Are you going to be fine?'

'I'll be awesome. I'll be able to find Max much faster on my own any way.'

'Take care of yourself, Chloe,' she says and flashes a quick and awkward smile that doesn't fill me with any confidence. 'Max will be back soon. I'm sure of it.'

* * *

 **20:10pm**

No calls, no texts. Come on Max, this isn't funny now.

Kate's father picked up the rabbit and then disappeared back into the hospital, leaving me alone with nothing but this old truck and the oldies station. Same old story, different person missing.

The truck crosses out of Grady Street and into Smith Avenue before crossing into Main Street. The sun has already started to set and the lonesome stars have appeared from behind the light of day, a harbinger of the coming night.

Shit, man, that's damned near fucking poetic.

This time yesterday I was sitting on that beach, staring at Max's text with a cigarette in my hand and desperately missing Rachel. Now I haven't smoked in twelve hours, desperately miss Max and have started waxing lyrical. What a difference a fucking day makes…

Shit, man, I'm so fucking tired.

The truck comes to a gentle stop as I hit Main Street, once a nice and empty expanse of pavement, now a makeshift parking lot. A sea of empty cars stretches out in front of me, their doors open in the road and their former occupants standing on the side of the road where the town meets the beach. I honk my horn and shout but no one pays any attention to me.

'Fucking hillbillies,' I say and get out of my truck, 'it's the sun setting, not a religious experience. What the fuck is the hold up?'

I make my way towards the beach, passing through the sea of cars and then the sea of people. It's like everyone in town is in here.

As I move deeper into the crowd, I begin to get the glimmer of police lights and then hear the sounds of news crews reporting live. People are talking about "weird shit" and "shame" and say "it must be down to global warming."

It must be something to do with the lake, like maybe the water's turned into blood or something… Wait… No. Three beached whales. Oh fuck…

The memory of going out to the bay to meet the whales with Dad and Joyce flashes in front of my eyes.

'Those whales have been in the lake since the time of my grandmother,' an old woman says.

'It's a great shame,' another old woman replies. 'Is there any hope in saving them?'

'I don't think so, not something that big.'

It's another one of those things, isn't it? Another sign of whatever is going to happen on Friday. I guess they won't stop even if Max is… wherever she is.

Where are you, Max?

You're the only one who can stop this.

I turn away from the whales, get back in my truck, reverse and drive away, taking the backroads away from Main Street. As I drive, I stare out the front windows and look for Max. Every turn, every new street I think I see her but then I realize I don't. Christ, I've got it bad.

Jesus, if this were any normal situation I'd joke and say I've got it bad. Life isn't normal lately though...

It's not like it was with Rachel. There was no warning this time: no notes left in the shack in American Rust or new people in Max's life… Except for me, I guess. Am I so changed from the person that I used to be, or is Joyce right and I'm just putting on a show?

No, I've got no time for any of that existentialist bullshit. Concentrate, Chloe!

It's like Max just suddenly stopped existing. It's not like the last time she went… That was so normal. Now, she's just evaporated… disappeared without warning. She's just gone, and everything else is coming to an end.

Not that I'm being overly melodramatic or anything.

This morning she mentioned something about being stuck in time… She didn't know, did she? Did she know that this was coming… Or did I force her to get stuck? She didn't try to re-wind again and force another funky thing to happen, did she?

Hell used to be so simple…

The car seems to make its own way through town, out of Cohle Avenue and into Hart Street before turning into Tillamook Estates. I'm too lost in thought to care about where I'm going, too tired. It's all just… automatic. Before I know it, I'm starring at the garage next to my blue and white house with my hand on the handbrake. .

It's still about two hours until Blackwell's curfew… Should I call the police now? Sheriff Cohen might help.

She always helped with Rachel, she might help now – even if I am calling before curfew…

I reach for a cigarette, light it and take a drag and rest my head on the steering wheel. Dad, what would you do?

" _Why are you asking me? You know her better than anybody."_

You'd know what to do. You went into the wilderness and shit to catch assholes.

" _I was a Federal Marshal, Chloe. I caught criminals. I didn't look for missing teenagers. The police do that."_

Still, I wish you were here.

" _Why?"_

Why would you even say that? If you were here, you'd know what to say. You'd flash that badge and smile of yours and every pig in town would do what you say and you'd be with Mom and I'd have Max back by now.

" _Just this morning you were blaming me for everything."_

I was just... I don't know, Dad. This has all been so fucked up for so long... Everything with Nathan... What he almost did, then Rachel... And now Max. God fucking dammit, Dad! Why did you have to die? Why couldn't you just be here? Why couldn't you be here and help me find Max? Why did you have to go out that day and get hit by that sleepy bastard?

 _"I'm so sorry, Chloe."_

I don't want you to be sorry. I want you to be her. I want you to help me!

 _"You don't need me to help you look for Max, Chloe. She doesn't need looking for. Everything will be alright."_

That's bullshit, Dad. Things aren't alright. Things will never be alright. Things just… get worse.

" _Chloe, you can't think like that. Whatever things are happening now, they're not what's going to happen forever. Things are going to get better."_

For a while, I guess… Then people fuck you over and everything turns to shit again. It's like a wheel of shit, going around and around.

" _Chloe, you can't keep blaming people for the bad things that happen that happen in your life."_

Max told me that before.

" _And she's not wrong, Chloe. But, she and you forgot that sometimes, for no apparent reason, bad things happen. It's just life. It's sad, but it happens."_

She said that, too.

" _What did you say?"_

I said that I hated you, and that I wished that she would go back in time and change everything. I told her that I was pissed at Mom for abandoning me and for marrying General System Failure within a year of you dying…

 _Chloe… I know that we didn't get as much time together as we should have, but I love you and your mother and I'm glad that I spent my life with her. And I'm proud of you. Being Joyce's husband and your dad was the best thing I ever did, and I just want you both to be happy… Don't worry about Joyce, she'll find her own way. Right now, what would make you happy?"_

Max… I want to see another one of her photographs, Dad, and see her win that competition that she was talking about. I want to go to San Francisco and Seattle and Portland and LA… I want to go to where CBGBs used to be and get a photograph with Max while we're dressed like punks. I want to find out what Powell's actually is and go swimming at midnight again and go out on Halloween with Max again... I want to wake up to the sight of her hair and hear the sound of her voice again, Dad... That's what I want.

And to think, you were so worried about boys.

" _I was only worried because I was scared for you, scared that you might've been taken advantage of by some asshole."_

So, what do you think about it all?

" _About what?"_

Rachel… Max…

" _I was never scared of Max."_

Even with my face against the steering wheel, I can't help but smile at the thought. Dad, what if she doesn't come back?

Dad, what if she doesn't come back?

" _Don't worry, Chloe. Max will be back."_

It took five years for her to be back the last time…

" _This isn't last time, Chloe. Go inside and talk to yonder mother. And don't worry, Max will be home soon."_

Dad?

" _I love you."_

Dad!

Tap, tap, tap!

I'm roused from my conversation and the steering wheel. I open my eyes and look up and see a small blue bird standing on the edge between the glass window and the truck's metal bonnet, tapping it's beak against the glass as if it was Woody Woodpecker.

'Stop it,' I say and blow the horn. 'Go the fuck away.'

The little bastard stops tapping, turns and looks at me – just for a second – before flying away into the night. Thanks for the interruption, asshole.

I reach for the packed bag, left behind the passenger seat this morning, and get out of the truck. I am so fucking tired... If Max wasn't missing, I'd go to bed now.

Home sweet hell, again.

As I walk closer and closer to the house, the familiar smell of Joyce's Salmon Surprise becomes all the stronger and I'm reminded of Dad's last day again, back when this place really was my home.

'Evening Joyce,' I say as I close the front door behind me.

'Chloe?' she replies.

I make my way into the living room and find Joyce sitting on the old couch, watching some crappy reality show about cakes or the Kardashians or something on David's over-sized TV while reading one of Dad's old books. She smiles at me, closes the book and drops it onto the coffee table. She looks hella tired.

'Yeah?'

'How are you doing?' she says, her voice cracking. 'After everything this morning and then your call earlier I was worried.'

'I'm fine.'

'Did you find Max?'

'No.'

'Did you call the police?'

'They said the same thing that they did last time, but I was promised that they'd put an APB on it if she's not back by curfew.'

Not really interested in what's on TV, I sit down next to her on the couch and stare at the wine stain in the carpet.

'Have you called Max's parents?'

'No.'

'Do you want me to?'

'No… I don't even know their number.'

'I used to have it, but I think I threw it out... That's a shame. I'm sure it won't be necessary, though. She'll turn up before curfew. You know Max.'

'Yeah,' I reply, not really believing any of it. 'I know Max.'

'Have you had your Fluoxetine or eaten?'

'No.'

'Oh… Well, I've got Salmon Surprise in the oven, and I guess it's not a problem as long as you have your pills before bed then it'll be fine.'

'Mom?'

'After dinner, we can go out and look for her if you want. I'm sure she's probably at that fort you used to play at, or her old house. We can wrap it up and eat it later if you're desperate.

I sigh. 'I'm not sure it'll help. A bunch of Max's friends got in on the search and didn't find anything.'

'Was one of them Warren Graham?'

'…Yes.'

'Max isn't dating him, is she?'

'No.'

'Good.'

'Why?'

'It's just… I don't know. Something irks me about him. Did you see that graffiti he carved into the table at Two Whales?'

'XYZ at Booth 1? It's a Rush song, Mom.'

'I know, it's just… When he came into the diner today, he seemed like… I don't know how to put my finger on it. It was like he was acting looking for her.'

'Do you think he knows something?'

'No, Chloe. He's not villainous, he's just… I don't know. Like he's trying to act the part of the knight finding a damsel, you know? Really creepy.'

'Yeah,' I say. 'A bro.'

'Is that what you kids call them now? In my day we just called them creepy fucks.'

Not wanting to talk about Warren Graham, I decide to change the subject quickly. 'What about Colonel Klink?'

'What about David?'

'Where is he?'

'Oh, after you and Max left this morning, I told him to go to a motel for a couple of days. I told him that I'll call him when I want to speak to him.'

'Oh.'

'So…'

'Yeah.'

'Chloe,' she says, 'it's been a tough day... Is there anything you want to say?'

'Reality TV is for idiots.'

'Chloe, be serious.'

'I'm really worried about Max. When we went out this morning, we went looking for Rachel and I discovered something about her… Rachel. It was something that really hurt me and made me realize that she might not have thought about me the same way that I thought of her…'

Without speaking, Joyce reaches over and gives me a hug. I didn't expect this.

'Are you alright?' she says.

'I… I don't know, Mom. I want... When I was raging in the car, Max was there and she was saying everything right and… And now I'm confused, Mom. I want to know what happened to Rachel, but I don't want Rachel back in my life. She knowingly betrayed me and nothing she can say will change that. I just want to know that she's safe.'

'What's confusing about that?'

'Max. The past few days have been awesome, Mom, probably the best days of my life and I've been feeling…'

'Chloe,' she says and releases me from her hug, 'if you're trying to tell me that you like Max "that way," don't worry, I already know.'

Definitely wasn't expecting that. 'What?' I say 'How?'

'Chloe,' she chuckles, 'you don't have to be Dupin to work it out.'

'Yeah…' I say and look over to her. 'How did you work it out.'

'Well, it's not like it was very hard,' she chuckles. 'And then there's the fact that that your room is covered in posters of near-naked women with their breasts out...'

'Yeah.'

She hugs me again, tighter than before, and smiles. 'What I'm trying to say Chloe is that if you like Max but you still want to find out what happened to Rachel you aren't confused. It's just being a good person.'

'But what if I'm just transferring my feelings from Rachel to Max?'

'Transferring your feelings? Chloe, you're over thinking this.'

'I don't know, Mom. I'm just…'

'Listen, Chloe, because I'm only going to say it once. Over the past five years I've heard you say that you want to be more like Max or saw you staring at your old photographs with Max more times than I've seen you clean your room ever. And this morning I, and I swear to God on this, heard Max say that she was jealous of Rachel.'

'Really?'

'Cross my heart and hope to burn dinner. I can't claim to know what Max feels for you, but trust me, on your part it's been there for a very long time.'

Where the fuck has this Joyce been?

'And you're not… mad?' I say.

'Of course not, dear. I just want you to be happy. That's all me or your father ever wanted.'

'What about the petty officer?'

Knock! Knock! Knock!

'We can discuss David later,' Mom says and stands up, 'but that's probably Max now.'

'Mom…'

'Get practicing what you're going to say.'

She makes her way past me, chuckling all the way as she makes her way through the hallway.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

From the living room, I can hear the loud creak as Mom opens the front door.

'Hel…Oh?' she says, clearly surprised.

Not Max then.

David?

No… I can see blue and red lights on the glass doors in the living room.

Shit.

Not again.

I stand up and walk to the hallway, stopping dead in my tracks when I see the sheriff standing in the doorway.

'Hello, ma'am,' she says to Mom. 'My name is Sheriff Sarah Cohen, and I'm with the Arcadia Bay Police Department.'

'Yes, I know who you are,' mom says. 'We've met before.'

'I remember, Ma'am. We all still miss Marshal Price at the ABPD.'

'That's funny, I don't remember William ever saying anything particularly nice about the ABPD. '

'Quite… Ma'am, is Chloe Price here?'

'Yes, she is. Is this about Max Caulfield?'

'Ma'am, I have no idea who you're talking about. Please move out of the way.'

'No. Unless you have a valid reason, you have no right to enter my home. Now you tell me what this is about.'

'Ma'am, I've come to see this matter myself because I know your daughter well, your late husband is still respected by a lot of people in this town, and your current husband is a friend to quite a few friends on the force. Now, please let me pass or I'll have to arrest you too.'

Mom lets the sheriff pass and turns to me.

'Chloe,' she says, 'the sheriff says that you're under arrest. What have you been doing?'

My heart races... Shit, what have I been doing?'

'Nothing!' I shout and turn my attention to the sheriff. 'Sarah, I haven't done anything… I've been with my friend Max all week.

'Sarah,' I say. 'I haven't done anything… I've been with my friend Max all week.

'Miss Price, please put your hands out,' the sheriff says and pulls a pair of handcuffs out of her belt.

'Sarah, please don't arrest me before Max comes back. Come on, Sarah, we know each other. Please…'

'I'm only going to ask once more, Miss Price. Any further warnings warrant a further charge of resisting arrest.'

'Sarah,' I say and hold out my arms. She stares at the scars on my arm and the tattoo on my right arm. 'Please…'

She puts the cuffs over my hand and locks them. 'Chloe Elizabeth Price, you are under arrest for Burglary in the second degree and Careless Driving. You have the right to remain silent when questioned. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future…'

She marches me out of the house, towards an ABPD squad car sitting in front of the driveway, it's red and blue lights still flashing, alerting everyone in the street to the fact that once again the police are visiting the Price Household.

Fucking assholes.

Some dignity, please?

Mom stands in the doorway, her eyes filled with tears.

'Chloe, everything will be alright!' She shouts as Sheriff Cohen puts me in the back of the squad car. 'Don't say anything! I'll call your lawyer!'

'Mom!' I reply, but the car door shuts before I can finish.

Without saying a word, Sheriff Cohen gets in the front seat and drives off. In the front mirror, I can see Joyce standing in the middle of the road, watching as we drive away.

Max, where are you? Please, come back… Please, help…

* * *

 **Notes**

 **I'd like to take the time to seriously thank everyone who has read this fic. I'm not sure on the real numbers, but according to 's info the views are somewhere near 3,000, which is nothing short of incredible. I'd like to thank the people who have reviewed this fic so far: Catie44, Ruaitae, thehaakun, Candle in the Night (especially so for reviewing it twice), ChloePrice, Jel, Candle in the Wind (again), MasterOfCider – who I must say has one of the best usernames I've ever seen – and PAPERCROW. And I'd also like to thank gabrielprice and yuri-is-the-jizz for reblogging a link to this story on Tumblr. Thank you all.**

 **Author's notes can be found on Tumblr on Something Wicked This Way Blogs as soon as I'm finished writing them.**

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and would be very appreciative if you would provide feedback.**


	6. Chapter 6

**2008\. Prime Timeline. 10:34 am**

The photograph of Chloe and me comes into focus and in the space of a flash of light I'm back in 2008, standing next to Chloe, in my 13-year-old self. Thank Dog it worked again…

Chloe shouts something ecstatically and there's a flash and a click as William takes the photograph that started all this. She says something about her dad getting a new computer, but I don't pay attention; I'm too caught up in everything.

The air smells delicious, of fresh flour and egg. In the background, I can hear the 8-bit music coming from the paused SNES in the living room and the crackling of wood on the fire. So far, everything seems to be okay. Everything is as it was originally. Good.

But now what?

I could tell William and Chloe what's going to happen and let them make the decision, but do I have time for that?

What if they think I'm crazy?

What if, by telling them, I just end up creating a new timeline?

William takes the photograph out of the Polaroid and shakes it. 'I hope the flash didn't scare you, Max…'

I guess I can just rewind if things go bad...

'…Cause this is a keeper.'

Chloe smiles and tells William that they can't keep the photograph until she's given her approval. Full of hope and joy, she walks up to William, just like last time and the time before that, and playfully pulls the photograph out of his fingers. She turns to me and her smile falls away. Her eyes open wide.

'Max, are you okay? Your nose is bleeding and you look totally pale.'

Without replying, I rub my hand under my nose and look at the thin sheen of blood on my forefinger. I must be using my power too much again.

Oh, Lord, that means I can't risk rewinding again... That means I only have one shot at this, and I can't even leave the decision up to William.

'You okay, Max?' William says.

'Yeah,' I reply and turn and make my way through the living room, towards the couch. 'I just… Uh… I just gotta go sit down for a minute.'

I sit down on the couch and stare at William's old and battered Arcadia Bay Brunts cap. The last time I was here, I hid them, but what did I do the first time? Was I sitting at the breakfast table, finishing a drawing?

I don't think I was helping Chloe and William make breakfast.

I wasn't sitting here, was I? Jesus, I didn't find the keys for William, did I?

I think I'm going to throw up.

Instinctively, I curl up into a ball and shut my eyes. I've got to be quiet and let all this play out as if I wasn't here at all. No more big changes.

'Before you know it, I'll be pestering Max for photography tips. Isn't that right, Max?'

I don't reply.

'Max?' William calls from the kitchen. 'Are you alright?'

Again, I don't reply.

Behind me, I can hear whispering, the sound of running water, and then footsteps. 'Max?'

'Max?'

I look up and see William standing between the television and the coffee table, a tall glass of water in hand.

He puts the glass of water on the table. 'Chloe told me get you some water while she continues work on her culinary magnum opus. Are you okay, Max?'

'I'm fine, William,' I say and sit up. 'I just… I'm just hungry and tired. Dying for some of yours and Chloe's crêpes.'

'Crêpes?' Chloe says from the kitchen. 'I thought we were making pancakes.'

William smiles and looks up towards the kitchen. 'Crêpes are a type of pancake, dear.'

'What's the difference then?'

'Crêpes are thinner and bigger and French and they normally use a different kind of batter to make them.'

'Oh… Okay, so does that effect how many eggs I should use?'

William looks back down to me, rolls his eyes and smiles. 'I've got to go finish my padawan's training. You sure you're alright?'

I give a weak smile. 'I'm fine, William.'

'Okay, but don't be afraid to call us if you feel like you're going to hurl or if you need a hanky or something.'

'I'll be fine as long as I get some of those delicious crêpes soon.'

He chuckles and makes his way back to the kitchen. 'You hear that Chloe? One stack of crêpes needed urgently, stat!'

'One order of thin, big French pancakes coming up!' Chloe replies.

She's so full of life, so full of joy… They both are. By this time tomorrow, though, William will be dead, and everything will be back the way it was. Chloe will be devastated, Joyce will be alone, and I'll… I'll be the one to have caused it.

Why couldn't it have just worked?

Why couldn't that have been home?

Why can't I just be a normal girl who goes to school, sends photographs into competitions, goes to college and goes on dates and falls in love and then maybe gets married?

Why did any of this have to happen to me?

This must be what it feels like to be a war photographer, to go out into the field and sit in death's waiting room, watching as people just disappear…

No.

This isn't the time to be feeling sorry for myself. That's what I would have done before this week, before I found Chloe again and saved Kate and helped Alyssa and Dana and everyone else. I've got to get back to my Chloe and save my version of Arcadia Bay.

And then?

Then I guess I'll let Chloe decide, as I should have before I changed everything, as I should be able to now.

I take a long, deep breath. In and Out.

Beneath the gentle ebb and flow of Chloe and William's banter, I can hear the Price's clock ticking away to itself. Although it has never given the correct time, its message is clear: There's only a few minutes left.

I guess I best make the most of them.

I stand up and make my way towards the kitchen, passing William's Marshal's windbreaker slung over the back of the couch, the files that he was going to work on and the dozens of travel magazines on the counter across from the breakfast table. In the kitchen, Chloe and William are talking about who's really in charge when Joyce isn't there, the way they did whenever they did anything together.

'Hi,' I say and join them at the counter. 'I'm feeling better now.'

'Must be excitement for my expertly made crêpes,' Chloe replies.

'You know it.' I say and turn to William, 'Is there anything I can do?'

'Sure, Max,' he replies. 'Take this whisk off me and keep whisking while I go make some coffee.'

Chloe turns away from the stove. 'Can I have an Espresso Macchiato?'

'A _what_?' William says.

'An Espresso Macchiato,' she repeats. 'It's a kind of coffee.'

'I know what it is, but don't you think you're a little young for something like that?'

'No. And Mom told me that Grandpa told her that you used to drink coffee when you were Max's age.'

'That's different…'

'How?'

'Well, it's… That was San Francisco... And there was... Okay, Chloe. I'll do you a deal. If you can tell me how to make an Espresso Macchiato, I'll let you have one. Otherwise, you're having orange juice in your Sailor Uranus glass with a curly straw.'

'Well, it's simple,' she says. 'First you… Umn…'

'Yes?'

'I'm thinking, Dad. Give me a minute.'

William smiles. 'Come on dear. I don't have all day. I've got paperwork to do before finishing painting the house later.'

'I know there's milk in there somewhere.'

'Yes?'

'You have to get it foamy,' I say, still whisking the flour/egg mixture.

'No tips, Max.'

'No tips? Come on, Dad! What's the point in having a friend if she can't pull your ass out of a jam every once in a while?'

William folds his arms and makes his face look ridiculous.

'Fine,' she says and turns back towards the stove. 'I would have gotten it eventually.'

'I know you would, Chloe… '

She looks over her shoulder and smiles at him.

'…I just don't want you to know these things too soon.'

'And when's not too soon?'

'For me, whenever it is, it's too soon. Let's just say I still wake up in a cold sweat because of the wine incident,' William says as he makes his way to the fridge. 'So until that day of wolves and shattered shields, you have the right to taste the rainbow. Do you want orange too, Max?'

'That's skittles,' Chloe says before I can reply.

'Is it?'

'Yeap. You really need to reacquaint yourself with junk food, old man.'

'Chloe Elizabeth Price, I am an Inspector with the United States Marshal Service, clothes in immense power and responsibility by your mother and in partial control of not only your phone privileges but also when and if you can ever go out on a date. Now, unless you want to spend the remainder of your teenage years using Myspace to arrange meet ups with Max, repeat after me: "I am not an old man".'

Chloe flashes a cheeky smile. 'I am not an old man, _old man_.'

'Daughter of mine…'

'Do you want me to go get your reading glasses, Dad? Do you want me to speak up?'

'Don't hurt me, don't hurt me. No more… Ouch, you wound me with your cruel, cruel words.'

Chloe bursts into laughter and they continue their playful banter. I stay quiet as I whisk the crêpes mixture.

And then, just as it happened before, the phone rings.

I can feel my throat closing and my heart racing as William sets the jugs of milk and orange juice down on the counter and heads towards the ringing phone. I drop the whisk in the bowl and stare at it.

'Are you alright Max?' Chloe says. 'You've gone really pale again, and you are acting really strange today.'

Without replying, I step away from the proto-crêpe mix and walk towards the edge of the kitchen. I watch in horrified silence as William picks up the phone.

'Hello. Hey honey…'

'Max, are you okay?' Chloe says again and rests her hand on my shoulder, just like she did in my vision on Monday.

'I'm fine,' I reply.

William smiles. '…Of course I'll come pick you up. Now I have an excuse to get a mocha. Be there shortly. Love you.'

He hangs up the phone and turns to us.

'You sure you're alright, Max?' he says. 'You do look really, really pale. Are you sure you don't want me to run you home?'

'No,' I reply, 'I'm fine.'

'Okay, but when I get back we are going to call your parents and ask them if they want you to go home.'

'Dad!'

'Don't "Dad!" me, Chloe. Your mother isn't here to look after us at the moment so we have to pretend to be responsible adults in her absence, and in this case that means asking Max's mom and dad if they want her to come home if she might be sick. But now I must go retrieve my fair lady from the Sav-Mart and bring her back to this street where we live… At least I would if I knew where my keys were. Have you seen them, Chloe?'

'Nope,' Chloe replies.

'Max?'

'No…'

'Okay, I'll just have to put my skills as a trained investigator to good use.'

William makes his way into living room and searches the breakfast table, his windbreaker, and then, finally, the coffee table. He walks with a casual abandon and I feel sicker and sicker the closer he gets to the keys. No one else here knows what's going to happen but me and it's heartbreaking. Everything in my heart is telling me to stop him, but my head knows that I can't.

William lifts the baseball cap up and sees the keys.

'I knew you were there, you sneaky keys,' he says and turns and makes his way towards the white light where the house's front door should be. 'Don't forget to lock up after I leave. Chloe, make sure you look after Max if she's not feeling well.'

'I will Dad.'

'And Max,' he says, looking at us - still standing at the edge of the kitchen. 'Look after Chloe, would you? She's a handful, I know, but I've sort of grown accustomed to her face by this point… When she's not spilling very expensive wine on the living room carpet, that is.'

'That only happened once!'

'I will Mr. Price,' I say with a bittersweet smile, 'don't you worry.'

William chuckles.

'Mr Price,' he repeats, 'when did I become Mr Price? Anyway, make sure that you guys don't cause any trouble while I'm out.'

'We won't,' Chloe grins. 'See you soon, Dad.'

'Goodbye William,' I say.

'See you later girls.'

He disappears into the white light. Gone forever.

Already I can feel myself being returned to 2013. But it's a slow build-up this time, not instantaneous like last time. It's like a rubber band that needs to be stretched back. I can feel the pull growing stronger and stronger. It won't be long now.

Without saying anything, I walk back into the kitchen, towards Chloe now standing in front of the stove and rest my head on her shoulder. It's only 11: 40am now and already I'm so tired. It'll be hours before the police come to the door…

'Max,' Chloe says. 'Are you alright? You are acting fucking strange today.'

I'm so sorry Chloe. If there was any way to save William and get back to you, I would have done it. I swear I would...

'Chloe...' Before I can finish, everything goes white.

Like before, I see photographs in front of me: photographs of the future, photographs of my past. Where last time the old and recognisable photographs were replaced with new photographs, of Chloe, Joyce and William living a happy life up until that last one, this time the old photographs return. I don't have a body in this place, but I know that if I did I'd be smiling at the sight of my Chloe...

It only takes a few short seconds for history to re-order itself.

And when it's done, when the white light of the space between times fades, I find myself back in my dorm room, now pitch black save for the full moon in the sky, its pale light shining through my window and onto the floor. My "Keep Calm and Carry On" carpet is back, so that's a good sign.

As I walk over to the light switch next to my door, I wonder how long I've been gone. Couldn't be more than five or so hours. I flick the light switch and turn to see if my room has turned back into my normal little fortress of solitude. Oh God, I hope this worked...

*Click*

Oh shit.

My laptop is gone and all the clothing from my draws has been emptied onto the floor. The post it notes pulled off my noticeboard and laid down on my bed, along with my research on time travel. The mural from Hell that Nathan Prescott left on my bed is gone too and so is Ray Bradbunny. Even my chair is out of place.

My phone starts to go haywire as my ringtone, text tone and notification tone play at once.

'What the...?' I say out loud, surprised at the sheer amount of missed calls, texts and notifications.

What the fuck happened?

* * *

 **Notes**

 **Like the previous scene set in 2008, I thought it best that this one would be better published as a self-enclosed mini-chapter and not a part of a larger one. Plus, it gives me more time to plan and write the next (much longer and possibly the penultimate or even final) chapter.**

 **Congratulations to everyone in the USA's LGBTA+ community for the Supreme Court's ruling this past Friday. Love won, and that's awesome. The world needs more victories for love.**

 **I hope you've enjoyed reading the story so far and would greatly appreciate your feedback. Thank you to everyone who has read this story and a very special thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this story.** **You know who you are: you are all hella amazing.**

 **Thank you all for reading. Have a great week.**


	7. Chapter 7

**The idea that Chloe spoke with a southern accent when she was little came from APAccidentalAccount, who has graciously allowed me to use this wonderful bit of headcanon.**

 **I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to favorite this story and review it so far. In a very literal way, Come Home wouldn't be what it is without your continued support. Thank you all.**

* * *

 **2013\. Prime Timeline 21:29**

I glance upwards from the metal table towards the clock on the far wall, ticking away to itself.

Tick-tock, tick-tock …

Fuck you, clock.

It says that the time has just gone past midnight, but that can't be true, can it? I haven't been here that long. I can't have. It's impossible. Surely she should have charged me or released me by now. That's how it usually works, at least.

'I'm only going to say this once,' she says. 'Tell me how all of this started.

Sheriff Cohen wants to know how all of this got started? Fine. I'll go back to the very beginning of this whole bloody affair. You might want to sit down, though, because it's a long story…

The way that Mom tells it, it happened like this. It was early November 2001, just a couple of weeks after Mom started working at Two Whales. I think it was a couple of days after she meant Ken Kesey, actually. Dad was off with the Marshals doing _something_. Sometimes Mom says he was trying to catch a copy-cat Green River, other times he was doing a Journeyman assignment or something to do with terrorism or something like that. I don't know, I don't think she remembers either.

"It wasn't like it was when you were older," she'll say. "Your dad had a lot less clout back then. He had to go where they told him to go and he was away a lot. I tell you, we had a few frank discussions about moving, back in those days… "

I just remember that he was away a lot and that I was alone a lot in those days… I didn't have a lot of friends as a kid.

Anyway, apparently I had been in a fight in school with a kid named Gus that day; he had pulled my hair and I turned around and gave him a good ol' Maggie Fitzgerald… Yeah, I started kicking ass and taking names at an early age. Some kids have to be taught how to throw down, for me it comes naturally.

So, having taught the little shit the meaning of "pull my hair one more time or I'll hit you so hard your dog will feel it," I was of course suspended, and being that Mom was working, she made me sit at the counter so that she could keep an eye on me while she served the customers. Apparently I was getting bored, but I can't remember it being that bad. I mean, sure, I had made the jukebox play _What's New Pussycat?_ 20 times and _It's Not Unusual_ once to annoy Mom, and listening to the drifters and fishermen talk about their lives was starting to drag, but I wasn't bored. I will admit, though, that I did want to go outside and play on my skateboard that Mom had bought me.

Wouldn't you? Skateboards are hella epic, especially when you're a seven-year-old!

It was about 1:30 in the afternoon, she says, when this family walks in. At first glance, you wouldn't be able to pick them out of a crowd: a man, his wife, and their little girl, who was about a year younger than I was, but she looked even younger. They made their way to the booth at the far end of the diner and sat down and started talking, as everyone does, and Mom went to get their order, as she did everyone else's.

"Good afternoon, ya'll. Welcome to the Two Whales Diner, home of Arcadia Bay's finest burgers. What can I get you?"

The dad, a guy with about four day's beard growth and wearing a suit that didn't suit him, replied: "We've just sat down. Can we have a minute?"

"Sure darlin'," Mom replied and went back to the counter. She looked at me and just sort of pointed at them with her eyes, you know? That look that says, "Listen to where I am looking because this might be interesting gossip."

Of course, now that she's been there a while, Mom tells me that she doesn't listen to customers anymore, but back then we, meaning the entire Price family, used to talk for hours about the people that came into the Two Whales. I think Dad found it therapeutic, a change from all the crap at work.

Now, this part is important. Me and Mom spent some time putting what we heard together once, so we're pretty sure this is definitely the truth. The family had just come from a really shitty meeting with the little girl's kindergarten teacher and everyone was really on edge. Near to tears on edge. Apparently she wasn't assimilating in her class, wasn't making friends and spent most of her time starring out the window. Some things never change.

By the looks of things, the guy had come home early from work and wasn't happy about it. He was… pissed? I mean, not pissed like step-douche is pissed or the way that the British get pissed, you understand; there's no way that this guy would be that much of an asshole, but he was snappy. Hella passive aggressive and on his last legs. You know the type: overworked and underappreciated at work and lives in terror of the idea that his daughter and wife aren't happy. He's the kind of guy that thinks that his wife married beneath herself.

The mom, meanwhile, is a worrier and an academic. Mom says that it was obvious by the way that she clasped her daughter's hand, but to me, I could see it because of the big bunch of child management and childrearing books that she pulled out of her back and laid out in front of her, as if she was a student cramming for a midterm.

"Hannah," the dad said. "Leave them for now. For once. Let's just have a nice dinner. We can think of something later."

He reached for the kids menu on the far side of the table and laid it out in front of their daughter. "Here honey. Pick out whatever you like."

"Thank you, daddy," she said with a voice that was almost alarmingly high pitched.

"Think of a way?" the mom said. "Sure, Michael, let's just think of a way. We'll just rub the magic lamp that you stole from the Cave of Wonder, sing Hakuna Mutata, and Max will stop talking to her toys, and everything will be alright."

"For God's sake, Hannah, not now. I had a tough morning at work and I've just had to sit through the third one of _those_ talks."

"Well, what do you want me to do, Michael? I can't physically force Maxine to make friends, especially if I'm not there. I'm not Wonder Woman or Dana Scully or Jill Taylor."

"I don't want you to physically force her, Hannah. I just want to have a nice goddamned dinner with my goddamned family after getting my ass handed to me by my asshole boss and my six year old's teacher…"

"Michael," the mom said. "Don't swear in front of Maxine."

"She hears it already when we go and visit your father."

"My father doesn't swear! He just sometimes forgets the right words to use!"

So, those two are starting to really dig into each other, right? They're starting to get heated and they're really not paying attention to anything.

Yeah, I know. They were absolute idiots.

At the same time, my mom had turned away from me to get some bacon for another table. It only took her a second to turn and reach for the bacon, but when she did… Well, you know what happens next. At the sight of my empty chair she dropped the bacon onto the floor and rushed to the side of the counter.

"Chloe?" she shouted. "Chloe!"

At the sound of the southern waitress shouting for her little girl, Max's parents turned and noticed that their little girl was gone too. Shit, as they say, hit the fan. _Hard_.

They jumped up from their seats and started looking around the diner, calling Max's name as if they were trying to wake the dead. I can't blame them, really.

All three of them locked eyes and _just knew_. Normal parent sense mixed with sheer panic, I guess.

"Chloe," my mom said.

"Maxine," Max's parents replied. "Maxine Caulfield."

"Chloe Elizabeth Price."

My mom and Max's mom started to shout to the mostly empty diner and see if anyone had seen where me and Max had gone. To no use, obviously, but at least they tried. Max's dad, Michael Caulfield, ran into the bathroom to see if we were in there; I don't know why, but he did. Obviously, we weren't there.

Now, they were starting to really panic. My mom says she was thirty seconds away from calling my dad and having every deputy Marshall in Oregon looking for us when somebody shouted that they saw two little girls walk outside.

"A tall'un first and then a little'un a little bit later," the anonymous trucker said. "They went outside just a minute ago."

What had actually happened is that I didn't know that Max had followed me; I just wanted to go outside and she just sort of imprinted on me - like a Doe, I guess.

I saw my opportunity when I saw where the Caulfield's conversation was heading, so when Mom turned around I took the opportunity to run for it. I knew not to go far, though. Even as a child I wasn't that stupid, but I still wanted to go out and play on my skateboard and just get out of that diner.

So, I went outside and tried to get some balance on that thing; I thought I was going to be the next Elissa Steamen… But as always happens the first time, I slipped and ended up going ass over head on the pavement. In retrospect, I guess I was just lucky to not hurt myself. Good for me.

"Ow," I said as I pulled my head up from the ground.

I looked towards the diner, to see if Mom had noticed me gone yet, and there, standing on the bottom of Two Whales couple of steps, stood Max, my once and future best friend… and I guess love interest – if my influence is high enough, of course.

"Hey," I said to her. "Are you alright?"

Max didn't reply. She didn't talk much at all in those days.

I pulled myself off the gravelled floor, brushed the dirt off my elbows and walked over to her.

"Hey," I said again. "Are you alright de-yah? Are you sure you're supposed to be out here?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "I like your skateboard."

"Thanks. I'd let you have a turn on it, but it's only for big kids."

She looked down at her shoes and started to cry.

"Why are you crying?" I said, thinking _Oh Crap_ , and walked towards her. "I'm sorry."

She didn't reply.

I was starting to feel really bad really quickly at this point. "Please don't cry… Was it something I said? You can have a go on my skateboard, if you want. Is it your mom and dad?"

She looked up at me and nodded.

"Do they do that a lot?"

"Sometimes."

"But not all the time?"

"No."

"My parents argue sometimes, too."

"Do they make you speak to the councillor?"

"Not yet," I said. "But after today they might. A boy pulled my hair so I punched him in the nose."

"Really?"

"Yeah… So, umm, what do your friends say about your parents when they're at your house?"

"I don't have any friends besides The Captain."

"And The Captain is…?"

"My teddy bear, but my mommy said that I can't take him to school no more since I swallowed his eye so I just sit by myself at school."

"You swallowed his eye?"

"Yeap."

"That is pretty rad…" I said. "What did it taste like?"

"I dunno"

"Oh," I said. "So, what do you do when not in school?"

"Sit by myself. Stare at things. My daddy says that I should make friends but I don't know how to make them. When I asked my teacher she just stared at me."

"I'll be your friend," I said.

"Really?"

"Sure," I said and held out my hand. "Sure. I mean, you're weird, but I like you… My name is Chloe Price. It's really nice to meet you."

She looked at my hand for what felt like days before finally shaking it.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Maxine Caulfield."

"Maxine?" I said as she released my hand. "I like it, but it's too long…. It should be like, Max. Yeah, Max. By the power vested in me by myself, I dub thee… Max."

"Max?"

"Yeap. That's your name from now on. You are Max Caulfield."

She smiled. "I like it… Max."

"Good," I said. "Now, I think we better go back inside before my Mom flips. You okay?"

"Yeah. Umnn… As long as we're going back inside. My mommy said that I'm not allowed to go anywhere with strangers."

"Don't worry," I said. "We're just going back inside. Do you want me to hold your hand?"

Max smiled. Then, as if by act of providence, my mom and the Caulfields burst out of the Two Whales like they were running away from the bill.

"Maxine!" the Caulfields shouted in unison and rushed towards Max. Her dad picked her up off the floor and they all hugged her. Real life Hallmark card in action.

My mom, meanwhile, rushed towards me with her arms waiving about like she was the harbinger of bad weather.

"Chloe Price!" she shouted in a tone of voice that told me that I would be on her shit-list until at least Christmas. "What in the name of Hell's bells were you thinking?"

Obviously the years have significantly chilled my mom.

"I was bored, Mom," I said, which was true.

She looked at me as if I had just told her that I had blown up the White House. "You were bored?"

A few steps away, the Caulfield's were busy making sure that Max was okay.

"Why did you go outside, Maxine?" Max's mom said.

Max looked down at me and smiled. "I was bored, Mom."

(I'd later learn that this was the first time that Max called her mom 'Mom' and not 'Mommy.')

"Look Daddy," she said and pointed to me. "I made a friend!"

Mr Caulfield turned and looked at me; it was a look that told me that he wasn't sure I actually existed, like I might have been a hallucination or a dream that he was having. It was a look that said one thing: What?

He looked back to Max and smiled. "You made a friend? That's fantastic, honey!"

He was so happy, you would have thought he had just struck gold. Without saying anything, he walked over to my mom (who was still making me know just how disappointed she was in me and how disappointed Daddy would be when he got home) and introduced himself.

"Excuse me?" my mom said.

"Hi," he said. "My daughter said that she was speaking to yours…"

"Yes, I know," mom said. "I'm really sorry that my daughter dragged yours outside. I'll pay for your meal. Just please don't…"

"It's fine, honestly," Max's Mom said. "Maxine probably just followed yours out."

"Chloe," Mom said. I looked up at her. "Her name is Chloe."

"Well," Max's dad said. "Maxine mentioned that she and your Chloe hit it off, and Max is normally really, really shy…"

Max's mom interrupted, "and, well, if she's made a friend then that's fantastic. That's Christmas. We were wondering if, while we're here…"

"If you wouldn't mind if Max and Chloe played together."

"If you wouldn't mind, of course."

Mom, still obviously pissed off, looked at me and then at Max's parents. I don't know what she thought at the time; the Caulfield were acting strange, but Mom was never one to bat an eye at the strange. Must be due to growing up in the south.

"Sure," she said, finally. "Chloe's grounded at the moment, but I guess there ain't no harm in letting her play with your Max today, and then if they're still friendly later then maybe we can exchange information and arrange something when Chloe is out of the pokey."

Max's mom, the recent Law School graduate, chuckled uneasily. "The pokey…"

"I think Maxine would like that," Max's dad said and let her down on the floor.

I looked at Max and she looked at me. She smiled, I smiled, and then we went to go pretend that we were pirates inside; I was Mary Reed, she was Anne Bonny.

And the rest, as they say, is history. That's how all this got started, Sheriff Cohen. That's how I met Max. It's a funny story.

'Ms Price,' the sheriff says, bringing me out of my memories, 'Chloe, are you listening to me?'

I look up from the table towards Sheriff Cohen, towering over me with her hands on her hips. She looks like my mom did when she got that phone call to tell her that I knocked Gus' tooth out. She looks _pissed_.

God, I didn't even do anything that bad…

She picks out my file up off the metal desk, reads through it for the third time since I got in here and drops it back down on the table.

Is this supposed to be frightening, sheriff? There aren't even any felonies in there.

'We have testimony from two security officers from Blackwell Academy, as well as reports from serving police officers, that your truck was spotted speeding away from Blackwell Academy on Tuesday night. We also have photographs from traffic cameras that say that your truck was on Grady Street shortly before the break-in took place. That combined with your rap sheet makes you look pretty good for the break in.'

She pulls her chair out and sits across from me. 'Listen, Chloe, I didn't even have to bring you into interrogation, you know, I could have just charged you, but if you talk to me now, then I'm sure the judge will be lenient on you. It's just burglary, you can move on from this. Talk to me.'

Come on Max, or Mom, or anyone. Send me some help…

I look up the metal desk again, straight into Sheriff Cohen's cold, blue and bloodshot eyes. She's tired; obviously the break-in and Kate's suicide attempt are putting her on edge. She needs to make an arrest soon.

Well, fuck you Sarah.

I take a deep breath, in and out.

'No comment,' I say. 'Don't I have the right to a lawyer?'

* * *

 **2013\. Prime Timeline 21:34**

42 missed calls

10 voice messages

30 texts

Oh fuck… Time must have continued on while I was over there.

Okay, at least I know that here still existed while I was over there, so over there must still exist while I'm here, right?

Phone in hand, scrolling through the missed calls, I leave my dorm room and make a mental note to look for my stuff later. Worst case scenario, I can always call in insurance.

Most of the missed calls are from Chloe but there are a few from Warren, some from Dana, one or two from an unknown number and one from Juliet. I can speak to everyone else later, but now I've got to get to Chloe.

Oh God, I hope she hasn't done anything stupid…

Once again I find myself in a darkened hallway and using my phone as a flashlight. Like yesterday, the place seems quiet and practically deserted. Good, I can avoid Victoria and the rest of the Vortex Club.

It's so goddamned weird, though. Over there I was one of them, going to their parties, doing their drugs. There but for the grace of Dog parties Max Caulfield…

I walk slowly towards the exit at the end of the hallway, taking great pains to avoid making any unnecessary noise. Thanks for fixing the floorboards, Samuel.

The light in the bathroom is out. Good. Taylor is probably still out with Victoria or in her bedroom or something. It's still before curfew, so all I have to do is find a way to get across town. Finally, some good luck for once.

Dana's light is on. After how she was yesterday, I do feel kinda bad for not speaking to her when I came back from the diner before. Maybe I should check in and see how she is?

Yeah, I will.

I take a left and knock on Dana's doorframe. She's alone at her desk, her head in her hands, staring at her computer screen. She must have had a really tough day.

'Hey Dana,' I say.

She looks up, turns towards me, and stands up. Her chair falls backwards on the floor with a loud 'thud!' and she marches towards me, her face red and her mascara smudged. Oh god, she's been crying… Wait, is she pissed?

No… Well, maybe.

'Max?' she says and grabs me by the shoulder. Where in the name of Jeremiah fucking Blackwell's half-assed ghost have you been?'

Yeap, she's pissed.

'Out,' I reply, 'taking a walk. Why?'

'Why? Why?' she says and drops her arms to her sides. 'For God's sake, Max. Why haven't you checked your phone?'

What do I say? That I was out of range because I was in another dimension? Netflix binge? Abducted by aliens? Cramming hard in the Library of Babel?

'I…I went for a long walk in the woods, Dana. I had a fight with a friend and I wanted to clear my head. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you, but I didn't have any signal. I guess it's just good that I didn't get lost.'

She sighs and rubs her eyes and takes a step backwards, towards her bed. 'Okay, then, what's with all that shit in your bedroom? And how did you get out of the dorms without me noticing? I had my door open all day. And don't bullshit me, Max. I've spent too much of today in a hospital.'

'I… You know that stuff that we were talking about last night? That stuff with Nathan Prescott, and Kate? You asked me what I was doing?'

'Yeah?

'I've been doing my own investigation and I think I can connect Nathan to what happened to Kate, but he found out that I was looking at him and I think he did that.'

Dana sits down onto her bed, obviously taken back. 'Shit, Max… And, that friend, Chloe, right? She was helping you do this investigation.'

'Yeah…'I reply and sit down on Dana's couch. 'How do you know about Chloe?'

'She was here a couple of hours ago, looking for you… Why didn't you tell her about what Nathan did? She seemed pretty fucking freaked out by everything.'

'I didn't want to frighten her. Chloe's been through some pretty rough shit and I didn't want to burden her.'

'She seemed pretty tough to me.'

'She has a tough outer shell.'

'Okay then, how did you get out of the building without me noticing?'

'I was just really quiet, Dana.'

'Max, I know when someone is walking past my bedroom. Trust me on this. I have great hearing. I can hear when Alyssa is watching ballet videos on youtube and when Stella is tapping on her phone. I would have heard you.'

'I don't know what to tell you,' I say.

I don't like lying to Dana, and I'm not sure that doing so won't make things worse later on, but I'm not ready to tell her everything, not yet.

'Okay,' she says, clearly annoyed. 'Let's say I believe you for the moment…'

'How else could I have gotten out of the room?'

'I don't know, Max. If I did, I wouldn't be this pissed. But let's say that I did believe you, just for this moment, why the fuck didn't you tell anyone where you were going if you were getting into deep shit?'

'I… I don't know. I'm sorry.'

She sighs. 'Max, don't get me wrong. I'm glad that you're not hurt or worse, but you've been really selfish today. I know that you didn't mean to, but after everything with Kate, you've really put me and Juliet and everyone else here on edge, and that's just us. You're friend Chloe? I just met her, but I can tell when someone's fucked up, tough outer shell or not, and trust me, today she was royally fucked up.'

'I know. That's where I'm going now. I'm going to go and call her.'

'Good,' she says, 'but then you're going to write a long and emotive letter to me, Juliet, Trevor, Warren, Taylor, Courtney, Alyssa and Stella.'

'Why?'

'Because we were your search party, Max. Because we've spent the better part of the day looking for you while you were busy listening to all the colours of the wind and didn't even want to be found.'

'Oh,' I say. 'Okay. Yeah, that's fair enough.'

'Now, go call Chloe. She didn't seem to be doing that well when I left her.'

'You left her?'

'We went to go see Kate and then when you weren't there, I came back with Trevor. Chloe was starting to get to me. I'm sure she's nice, but I have no idea how you hang out with her.'

'She's an acquired taste… Is that why Ray Bradbunny isn't in my room?'

'Yeah. Haven't you checked your messages yet?'

'No?'

'Go check your phone, Max. We'll talk more in a minute.'

'Okay,' I say and turn away from Dana.

Great, whether it's in big ways or little ways, I can't seem to stop upsetting people… God, I hope I can explain this to Chloe…

Without speaking, I pull my phone out of my pocket and take a few steps out into the darkened hallway. There are a lot of texts on the phone, mostly from non-Vortex clubbers. I open the ones from Chloe:

* * *

 **Max. Tried to call you before, but you didn't pick up. Coming to Blackwell. Call me.**

* * *

Okay… That's not too bad. Maybe Dana is being overly dramatic? I'll check the next one…

* * *

 **Max, I'm outside your dorm room… Listen, I don't know if you're inside, or if you got my last text… I'm really sick of all this fucking shit. Sick of Madsen… Sick of Frank… And now I'm sick of Rachel, too. How many times have I said "I wish Rachel was here" lately? I feel like such a moron… I honestly can't take it here anymore and I was gonna get out of Arcadia while I still can. But, as I've been driving around, I was thinking and… Shit. Max, just open the fucking door, would you? I need to speak to you now.**

* * *

Shit…

* * *

 **Max, just broken into your dorm room with Daario and Jane Watson. You're not here and I'm getting worried. Why didn't you tell me about all that shit in your room? We're going to your old house, then the old pirate fort, then we'll try Kate. Oh yeah, when we broke into your room, we also took Kate's rabbit. You might've gotten a text from her dad. We're not bunnynapping.**

* * *

Oh…

* * *

 **Max, you weren't at your old house or the pirate fort. Daria is deputizing the Blackwell assholes that will listen to her… We're going to go to Kate's hospital now. Call me when you get this.**

* * *

…

* * *

 **Max… It's been a few hours and I'm really starting to worry, now. Please don't leave me alone here.**

* * *

Oh… Fuck.

I go into the contacts app and pull up Chloe's number. I take a deep breath, in and out, and call it. It rings but then goes to answer phone.

Fuck.

Okay, but that's no reason to panic, right? She could be driving or in the shower or something. I'll try again in a minute.

I turn around to Dana's room, only to pause when the phone starts to ring. It's Chloe. Thank Dog.

'Hello, Chloe,' I say as I answer the phone. 'I'm so glad that you've called me… Listen.'

'Max?' someone – not Chloe – replies.

'Who is this?' I say.

'It's Joyce,' she replies, quickly and out of breath. 'Max, what have you and Chloe been doing?'

I bite my lip as I remember the events of last night. 'Nothing. Why?'

'Max, Chloe's been arrested.'

'What? Shit. What for?'

'The sheriff said Burglary and Dangerous Driving…'

Shit, that cop from that answer phone message must've got to Chloe.

'Max? Max, are you still there?'

'Yes,' I reply. 'Sorry Joyce. Does she have a lawyer?'

'I've asked a family friend to represent her, and I've called some of William's old friends and asked them to speak to the sheriff. Between David and those good old boys, it's worked in the past. I just… Max, what is this about? Chloe called me before and said that you were missing? And then she came home before and she was… Max, what's been going on?'

'Joyce, it's… it's really complicated. Listen, I'm going to go and get all this straightened out. Don't worry. Do you think Chloe's lawyer is there yet?'

'No, I only talked to him a minute ago. But Max…'

'Great. Can you ask him to wait for me before going to see Chloe?'

'I think so, but Max…'

'Joyce, I've got to go. We'll speak later,' I say and hang up, only afterwards realizing the social faux pas I've committed. Shit.

I turn and look at Dana, standing in the hallway, looking concerned.

'Everything okay?' she says.

I sigh and rub my eyes and look at my feat. 'Chloe's been arrested.'

'What?'

'Listen, Dana, I know that you really want to grill into me for how I've been acting today, but I've really got to…'

'Go. Don't worry about it, Max,' she says. 'I'll call you a cab and speak to everyone else and explain that you're back. We'll speak later, okay?'

'Thanks Dana. I owe you,' I say and head back out.

* * *

 **Notes**

This is actually the first half of the final chapter. I had to cut it in half and present it like this for three reasons. Firstly, I wasn't sure if Episode 4 would be released on the 7th and wanted to get something out before then if I couldn't get the fic finished before then. Secondly, I wanted to give an ending to the alt/timeline storyline and the best place to put it would be between the two halves of the final chapter. And finally, it been the hottest week in history in Britain, meaning that my writing has been slowed down quite a bit.

I really struggled when writing the 6 and 5 year old Chloe and Max. I'm not good writing children.

I'm about half-way through the next chapter, which means that I'll hopefully have it out before the end of the week, and hopefully the final chapter will be out this time next week, if not earlier.

 **Thank you very much for reading. I'd very much appreciate feedback.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Come Home is a work of fanfiction based upon DONTNOD Entertainment's phenomenal video game Life is Strange. No Claim of ownership is made, nor is one expected to be honored.**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

 **2013\. Prime Timeline – Max Caulfield. 21:50**

Arcadia Bay is quiet at night. Always has been, always will be. Sometimes it's a nice quiet when you can hear the wind and the night birds and everything is just perfect. Sometimes not so much.

Even at Christmas, the town is quiet, barely making a spectacle besides switching the lights on Main Street. In Seattle, they have a parade and everything. And not just at Christmas, either. They'd have a parade at New Years, on 4th July, Thanksgiving. The whole city comes together and listens to that guy on the radio who sounds a lot like Sideshow Bob and you feel a part of something. You're never alone in Seattle. Not so much here, though. My dad used to say that it used to be a bustling logging and fishing town – so big, in fact, that they almost filmed Free Willy here, but I've never seen it like that. For as long as I can remember, Arcadia Bay has been quiet, decrepit and on the edge of becoming another Silent Hill; you can go days here without speaking to anyone nice or you know and Dog help you if you want to find a job here. Small town camaraderie my ass.

But still, sometimes at night, in autumn, when it's passed summer and not yet winter, it does get really nice here…

The cab makes its way down Main Street and I can't help but stare out into the bay, into the black and empty outer dark – occasionally interrupted by the stars and the moon. The light from the moon reflects off the lake; it looks like a pillar of light is sitting on the water. If I wasn't in a rush, I'd ask the driver to stop so I could take a photograph.

'So you're a Blackwell student?' The driver, who really looks like Edward James Olmos, says as we pass Two Wales Diner. 'One of Wells' kids?'

Surprised, I turn away from the stars and look towards the cab driver. 'Err… Yeah, I guess.'

'I know Principal Wells. Good man. Loves his job. Can't handle his liquor though.'

I can't help but let a small smile escape as I remember yesterday and Sam Fishering my way past Wells. 'I have heard things.'

'Yeah?'

'Yeah.'

'That's a shame,' he says. 'I mean, sure, he drinks, and I know he's probably a hard ass to you kids, but he's a good guy. Really. That thing with that Marsh girl really beat him up. Do you know her?'

'Yes,' I say. 'If it's all the same with you, I'd rather not talk about it.'

'Alright,' the cab driver says as we turn into Aberdeen Boulevard. 'I mean, I'm sorry. It's just that it's the biggest piece of news lately. And that girl who saved her? What a fucking hero, man.'

I blush and looks down at me feet, hidden in a veil of darkness.

'I mean, I've talked some people into things, like five grand off this car, getting my father in law to let me marry his daughter, getting my wife to let me buy this car, but that girl is a… Well, there ain't no way of saying it but wow… What a hero.'

'Yeah.'

'Wait…' he says and looks up to the mirror. Oh shit. Please, God. Please, don't let him recognise me. 'Holy shit! That was you?'

I don't reply.

Shit.

'Holy shit! It _is_ you! God, girl, you should have said. Oh, forget the bill. I'll pay this one myself.'

'It's fine.'

'No, it's fine. It's not every day you get a real life hero as a fare… That was some really impressive shit, you know?'

'I'm not a hero.' My phone starts to vibrate. I pull it out my pocket and see the text from Dana.

'I've just got to look at this.'

'Sure.'

* * *

 **Dana**

Spoken 2 Juliet, Warren & the rest. They're glad your back. How's things going?

* * *

 **Me**

No news yt :( Will text as soon as I no something.

* * *

 **Dana**

Ok Max. C U soon

* * *

 **Me**

Coolio. Have a good nite xoxo

* * *

I wait a moment before putting the phone back into Rachel's jacket's pocket. Wait, I'm still wearing these clothes? I feel like I should have changed… Oh well, I guess it's just been one of those really long days.

I look up at the driver's mirror.

'So,' the driver says, 'if you don't mind me asking, how did you get her to come down?'

Shit… So he wants to talk about that? Fine.

'I just… I guess I just made sure to be nice to her when everyone else wasn't, and then when it came down to it, I made sure that I chose my words very carefully.'

'That's all?'

'Yeah,' I say.

To be honest, I'm not really listening to the driver at this point. It's only just occurred to me that even if I did get to Chloe, there's nothing that I can really do at this point. I mean, it's not like she's been kidnapped by Frank, I can't just call the cops and the federales and have him dragged away, can I? Who do you call when your friend has been arrested?

Ghostbusters?

'Jesus…' the driver says. 'I thought you would have at least had some sort of superpower, like super speed or heat powers or something like that.'

I let out a weak and disinterested smile. 'Marvel movies have ruined you for heroes.'

'I guess so,' the driver replies. 'You know, I can't even watch those old great movies anymore. The Great Escape…True Grit… The Dark Knight.'

Oh, shit.

Mom!

How could I be so stupid? Mom's a lawyer. Surely she'll know something, a way of getting Chloe off the hook. Or something. Stupid, Max! Stupid!

'That's a shame,' I say as I reach for my cell phone again. 'Sorry to be anti-social, but I'm going to call my Mom.'

'Oh… Sorry, I forget that sometimes I talk too much. You still going to the police station?'

'Yeah.'

'Cool.'

I smile again and pull up mom's contact details on my phone. I look at her photograph and wonder when the last time we called was… Sunday? No… I think… What the hell was I doing on Sunday? Sleeping in? World of Warcraft? Homework? Listening to music? Wowsers, the difference a couple of days make.

The phone rings a couple of times before Mom answers with her traditional, 'Hannah L. Caulfield, Attorney at Law. How Can I help you?'

Groan… Do you really need to open with that to your own daughter? It says my name on the screen, Mom.

'Hi.'

'Maxine?' She says. 'Why are you calling me at this time of night? Is everything alright?

'Yeah. I'm just in a cab.'

'Cab? Max, it's… nine minutes until Blackwell's curfew. Are you going to be back in your dorm in time?'

'Mom, I'm not going to Blackwell, I'm heading away from Blackwell.'

'Away? Where are you going? Do you want me to get your father?'

'I'm going to the police station, Mom.'

'I'll get your father.'

'No, Mom. Leave Dad be. I wanted your advice as a lawyer.'

'Max, what's this about? Are you in trouble? It's not drugs, is it?'

'God, Mom, no. It's not drugs. Listen… I met up with Chloe again, and she got into some trouble. Apparently she's being charged with Burglary and Dangerous Driving. What can I do to help her?'

'Chloe? Chloe Price?'

'Yeah?'

'Chloe Elizabeth Price, the daughter of William and Joyce Price?'

'Yes, Mom. The same Chloe Elizabeth Price who came to my tenth birthday party.'

'Chloe Price has been charged with Burglary and Dangerous Driving?'

'Yeah.'

'She used to be such a sweet girl.'

'She… Mom, she is. Really. This is a huge misunderstanding, but I really don't have time to explain right now. Is there anything that you know that could help Chloe?'

'I don't know Max… I'm not a defence attorney… Do the police have any evidence?'

'I don't know.'

'Do they have any witnesses?'

'I don't know.'

'What do you know?'

'Chloe was arrested for Burglary and Dangerous Driving!'

The cab driver looks up to his mirror.

'Maxine Caulfield!'

'Sorry, Mom. I don't think they have any witnesses or evidence,' I say. 'Otherwise they would have arrested her before now, right?'

'Not necessarily, Maxine, but we're going to have to assume that. Okay, so anything that they do have must be circumstantial. Does she have any priors, Maxine?'

'A few, I think. I think they were misdemeanours.'

'Misdemeanours… Okay. Listen, Maxine, when you get there, see if you can find Chloe's attorney. Give them my details and tell them who I am and that I'm a lawyer and that I'm willing to help work on the case from here. It's very important that you let them know that I passed the bar in Oregon. You got that?'

'Yeah, Mom. Thanks.'

'Don't worry about it, dear… Is everything fine there?'

'Yeah,' I say as the cab turns into William Adams Boulevard. 'Listen, Mom. I've got to go. I'm almost at the police station. I'll speak to you later, okay?'

'Sure honey,' she replies. 'Remember to get Chloe's lawyer to contact me as soon as possible.'

'I will, Mom.'

'Be safe, honey.'

'I will, Mom. Don't worry,' I say and hang up.

Sorry to bother you Mom, but you're the only one I know who could help. It's funny, technically we did break into Blackwell, but it's not like we did anything that bad… And if things had been different, if I'd tried to cool things before, then David might have not gotten the police involved… But then I would have had to deal with him.

Shit.

Okay, whatever would have happened, I can't let Chloe stay in jail. Not for helping me with the investigation, and not after what happened before.

Did we break in?

Sure, but we're also going to save the town, and we can only do it together.

"Silent enim leges inter arma." Thank you, Latin class.

Okay. I sigh and look out of the window again, back out into the bay. It's so beautiful out there tonight - one of those perfect nights. But I'm too tired to enjoy it by myself, and I have a feeling I've still got hours before I sleep. 'So,' the driver says, 'yesterday you saved one friend and today another friend got arrested?'

'Yeap.'

'Never any time for quiet for you Blackwell kids, huh?'

'Nope. Fast times at Blackwell Academy.'

Suddenly, the cab comes to a gentle stop outside the police station and the taxi driver looks at me through his mirror.

'What do I owe you?' I say.

'Nothing,' the driver replies. 'I told you, it's on the house.'

'Thanks.'

I step out of the cab and into the cool night air.

'Good luck with your friend, kid,' he says.

'Thanks,' I reply.

The driver smiles, waves and drives away and I'm left alone in front of the police station. He did talk too much, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. I hope he makes it out of Arcadia Bay before Friday.

Should I re-wind and warn him?

No… He probably wouldn't believe me, hero or not.

I turn away from the empty road and look at the police station, a gigantic and intimidating building that used to be the town hall. There's a sign above the front entrance that says "Arcadia Bay Police Department and Sheriff's Office." On the right side of it sits Dr Henderson's Dentist, and on the left side sits John Cavil's Honest Car Dealership.

As I make my way across the road, towards the the building, I feel apprehensive; I've never been to a police station before. Almost visited, once, when security at a hockey game thought my dad started a fight, but that quickly fizzled out. Hah… Never seen a guy apologise quicker.

Once inside, I find myself in a quiet waiting room. The benches empty and the police few and far between. The walls are plastered with posters, and the few police officers and members of the public that are here make their way about like they know where they're going. It's oddly disconcerting. For a second, I catch myself looking for a bathroom to go collect myself in, just like I would have done on Monday, but I can't do that. I have to go find Chloe.

I march to the front desk and drop my arms down upon it. The desk sergeant, an old dude with a vanilla bright Yosemite Sam moustache and mole over his right eye, looks up at me and stares, as if I've just interrupted his nap.

'Can I help you, miss?' he says, clearly annoyed.

I guess I did just interrupt his nap.

He yawns and then reaches for his coffee. 'Would you like to report a crime?'

'No,' I reply. 'I'm… My friend was arrested.'

'If she's been arrested then she's either been booked or is being interrogated. In both cases there's nothing you can do about it.'

'I know. I was just going to ask if her attorney is here.'

'How should I know?'

'You're the desk sergeant.'

'And it's my job to keep tabs on the whereabouts of teenage delinquents' crack pot lawyers?'

'It's not your job to sleep.'

'Jesus kid, give me a fucking break. In two days we've had one suicide attempt, one break in at Blackwell Academy and earlier today the lake's entire marine population decided to emigrate to the beach.'

'No,' I say. 'My friend has been arrested and I might have information to give to her lawyer. I shouldn't have to deal with Chief Wiggum to do that.'

Chief Wiggum? Oh crap, I really don't want to piss police off… I've already got David thinking I drive Pablo Escobar's cigar boat.

'Kid, look at who you're talking to. Look at where you are. You might be Queen Bee at Blackwell, one of those Vortex Club brats who think they can get away with everything because "Mommy and Daddy pay your way", but in the real world you're just a punk. You're not even a fashionable punk. My son wore a getup like that when he was a roadie for Soundgarden.'

'I am not a member of the…'

I hear footsteps coming from behind me.

'Sorry to interrupt,' a calm but worn-out voice says, 'but I'm here to represent Chloe Price…'

I turn to the source of the voice. Behind me, stands a man with thick, black rimmed glasses and greying blonde hair. His suit is ruffled; it looks like he's been wearing it for at least two days. And there's a stern look on his face, a tiredness, but also a kindness – a kindness that I recognise. Jesus, Kate's dad really looks like Commissioner Gordon.

'Judge Marsh?' the desk sergeant says.

Judge? Kate never mentioned that her dad was… Well, I guess Kate doesn't talk about her family often at all. After seeing that letter from her mom and that card from her aunt, I can't really blame her.

The desk sergeant stands up. 'Sir,' he says and holds out his hand, 'on behalf of everyone here, I'd like to offer my sincerest and best wishes in regards to Katie, sir…'

'Sergeant, I've heard it all about a million times already today,' Kate's dad replies. 'Where is Chloe Price?'

'Yes, of course, sir. It's just that… It doesn't matter. Ms Price is being held for questioning, sir. I can take you to her now…'

'Just a minute, Sergeant. Ms Price's mother called me and informed me that one of Chloe's friends would be here to meet me. Has Max Caulfield arrived yet?'

I smile and raise my hand and say, 'Me.'

Mr Marsh looks down on me and smiles. 'Oh,' he says and stretches out his hand. 'Miss Caulfield, please forgive me. I really should have recognised the face the of the person who saved my daughter's life.'

'Don't worry about it, sir,' I reply. 'I don't think the local papers have managed to steal a good picture of me yet.'

'No,' he says. 'I'm not really… I haven't been reading the news lately. You understand. Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you.'

'Thank you very much Judge Marsh.'

'Richard,' he says. 'It was a real miracle, Miss Caulfield… You were there for Katie when no one else was, when I should have been… But that will have to wait for another time. Joyce Madsen called me and asked me to represent her daughter, Chloe Price, who I understand is another friend of yours?'

'Yeah,' I say. 'There's not much I can say that will help, but my Mom is a lawyer, and she said that she'll gladly help you with the case pro-bono if you need it.'

'That's great, Ms Caulfield. What's your mother's contact details?'

'The house phone is (939) 555-3226.'

'Right,' he says and notes the number down on his phone, 'and her name is?'

'Oh, Hannah Caulfield. She wanted me to make sure you knew that she has passed the bar in Oregon.'

Mr Marsh smiles and pockets his phone. 'Thank you, Miss Caulfield. If I need help, I'll contact your Mom.'

'Do you think you'll need to call her?'

'I don't think so,' he says, 'but you never know.'

'Is Chloe in a lot of trouble?'

'Burglary in the second degree is a pretty serious felony, but from what I know from what I was told over the phone they don't have any solid evidence… Time will tell.'

'Do you think she'll be out tonight?'

'I think so,' he says. 'Do you know anything about the accusations?'

'I know that they're completely baseless,' I lie.

'Anything else?'

'It's… private.'

'Okay,' he says.

We talk for a little while more before he goes to go meet with Chloe. I ask if I could go with him to see her.

'Sorry,' he says. 'It's legal counsel and family members only.'

Bummer. 'Okay.'

'I will make sure that Chloe knows that you're out here, though.'

'Thank you.'

'Keep your head up, Miss Caulfield,' he says and disappears into the bowels of the police station, leaving me alone in the empty waiting room.

And so, as I sit down on a cold plastic police station seat and consider the shots that I could take in here, my wait begins…

* * *

 **2013\. alt/timeline – Alt/Max Caulfield. 22:02**

Okay, that was weird.

Even now, a good couple hours of it ending, I can't stop thinking about it. It was just so fucking strange, man. One minute I was sitting with the squad and the boys in front of Blackwell, minding my own business, discussing things, avoiding homework, waiting to get a boss shot and the next moment I was… Gone?

Well, not gone. I was still there… sorta. Supressed? No, that implies that I was somehow not in control. I was making all those decisions. It was more like having spiritual pins and needles; I could move, but I wasn't 'there.' Someone else was.

I wonder if there's a word for that?

Victoria would know, I'll ask her later.

Hopefully she'll have some good weed, too. I'm nearly out. But for now, though, I guess I've got some thinking to do.

It was nice to see Chloe again after all this time. I felt really guilty about not going to see her earlier, but she seemed really happy to see me, so I guess she's not too angry about what happened, but I just wish she could have said what she was feeling. It's not like we left things on bad terms but… Why did I say that stuff about Lizzie?

Who the fuck is Lizzie?

Eurgh! I need to wake and bake. Is it still wake and bake if you haven't slept? Shake and bake?

Well, I do feel like chicken tonight. Lulz.

I stand up and reach under my mattress for my weed when my phone starts ringing, filling my dorm room with Kanye West's voice. Ew.

Thanks for changing my ringtone, Taylor. Great initiation prank. A+ trolling right there.

I don't recognise the number. Who…? Fuck it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

'Hello?' I say as I put the phone to my head. 'Max Caulfield, Photography Queen of Blackwell Academy…'

I hear breathing on the other end of the phone line. Shallow, without a lot of strength behind it. In the background, behind the breathing, I can hear a machine whirring away to itself.

'Hi Max.'

My eyes dart open and I fall back on the bed.

'Hi Chloe,' I say. 'How… How are you doing?'

'Better,' she replies. 'My lungs have cleared up and my dad says that my blood pressure is… Do you really want to hear this?'

'Sure,' I say. 'I'm really glad that you're feeling better. It was really good to see you today. I just wish that we could have caught up better, and not have your dad… You know.'

'Yeah… Max, listen, it was nice for you to visit, but you really shouldn't have said that stuff to Dad. He got really fucking excited…'

'Chloe,' I say, twisting the little baggie of weed between my fingers like a coin, 'I wouldn't have said any of it if I didn't mean it… Well, except for the Lizzie part. I have no idea where that came from.'

'Thought so. Like you'd have a punk has a friend.'

'I could.'

'Sure, Max. Sure you could.'

'I could!'

'I believe you, Max, but my tommy gun doesn't.'

'You are such a dork… Some things never change.'

'Nope… So, Max, if you lied about Lizzie, what else did you lie about?'

'Nothing, Chloe. I swear. I honestly don't know why I said that stuff… I hang around with a few people here. I'm in the Vortex Club.'

'Is that like the Blackwell version of The Breakfast Club?'

'More like Bad Kids Go To Hell.'

'I'm even more intrigued.'

I chuckle. 'They're not that great. I mean, Victoria is really nice, when she's not calling me Maxine, but to be honest the others are a little more hit and miss. They're not the nicest people… Assholes, really.'

'Oh,' she says - her breathing heavy. 'Then I guess you wouldn't want your asshole friends to know that you were friends with…'

' _Are_ **.** And if Courtney and Nathan and their posse start something, then I'll just throw down and me and Victoria will just start our own Vortex Club.'

'With Black Jack and hookers?'

'Don't ever change, Che…'

'Don't worry, Max. Come hell or high water, I'll always be me.'

'Good,' I say. 'So...'

'So?'

'So, umn… Since you're feeling better…'

'Do you want to come to my house tomorrow?' she says. 'We can watch movies 'n' stuff.'

'I'd love to,' I reply, smiling. 'Tell your dad to fire up the grill.'

'Cool,' she says. 'It'll be just like the old days, only with better films.'

'Hey! I liked The Girl Who Leapt Through Time!'

'I've seen better. Have you seen Mamoru Hosoda's latest?'

'Who?'

'Mamoru Hosoda. He directed The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.'

'Oh... Sorry, Che. I'm not as big an anime fan as I used to be. I tend to just stick to the Ghibli films now.'

'You should see it, Max. It's about a family of werewolves.'

'Do you have a copy at home?'

'Yeah. My dad managed to borrow a copy of a friend of his from a guy in the FBI.'

'Cool, we'll watch that.'

'Cool,' she says. 'I better go. I've got a doctor's appointment in the morning and then I've got a meeting with my academic advisor.'

'Awesome,' I say. 'I'll make my way to your house after school's finished.'

'Cool,' she replies. 'See you tomorrow, Max.'

'See you tomorrow, Che,' I say.

She hangs up.

I stare at the collage of photographs stuck to my wall and smile. Time will tell, but I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a really good day.

* * *

 **2013\. Prime Timeline – Chloe Price. 22:07**

The sheriff and Kate's dad have been talking for about ten minutes. When he walked in, still looking like a haggard Commissioner Gordon, the Sheriff immediately stood up like he was the president or something. It feels weird, really, having a judge defending instead of sentencing me, like I'm in an alternative universe or something. Between a judge and Max, it doesn't hurt to have friends in high places.

'Good evening, Ms Price,' he said.

'Sup,' I replied, the Sheriff still standing at attention.

'You can sit down now, Sarah,' he said. 'I'm here as a public defender, not a judge.'

'Can you do that?' she said.

'If I recuse myself from the wheel when this case comes up, which I have, then yes. I was a lawyer for fifteen years before I was elected,' he says. 'Now, before we continue, I'd like a minute alone with my client before we continue on.'

'Of course, Mr Marsh,' the sheriff said and left the room.

Once the sheriff was gone, Mr Marsh set his cell phone down on the table and sighed. 'Sorry,' he said, 'long couple of days.'

'It's fine. Umn… Should you really be here? I mean, with everything that's happened…'

'Don't worry about it.'

'Really,' I say. 'There are other lawyers…'

'Ms Price, I'm here because your mother, who is a good friend of mine and my daughter, asked me to be here. I'm also here because when my Kate needed someone to look after her, Max Caulfield was there to look after her, and it feels only right for me to return the favour and help someone who she cares about. And, most importantly, I'm here because when my KatIe heard me speaking with your mother on the phone, she told me to come help you. So here I am.'

'Oh.'

'Have you seen her?'

'Who? Kate?'

'No, Chloe. Max Caulfield. She's outside.'

'No,' I said. 'I haven't.'

'Well, I wouldn't worry. From what I understand we won't be long. I was told that they don't have any primary evidence. Is that true?'

'Yeah.'

'Have you said anything to them?'

'No.'

'Good. Okay…'

We went over the case as we both understand it, but I think he made a point of not asking me whether or not I had actually broken into Blackwell. Cheers, bra. Not like I'm opposed to lying, but I guess he thought that the room might be bugged and they might try to use it as a confession or something. I wouldn't put it past the pigs in this town.

When we were done, he called the sheriff back into the room and they started talking about the case. And that's where we are now.

'…So, let me get this straight, Sarah, you arrested my client based on the sole fact that she was in the area when the break in took place?'

'Yes, Judge. But she was not targeted randomly. She was in the area and she does have priors, including vandalism against the school.'

'I shouldn't have to remind you, Sheriff that spraying a few parking spaces more than a year ago does not constitute a pattern of behaviour. Especially when no actual tagging took place on this occasion and there are better suspects out there, scurrying about. I've been informed that Mr Nathan Prescott has recently been suspended from Blackwell Academy. Perhaps you should consider speaking to him about the incident?'

'Nathan Prescott is a member of one of Arcadia Bay's oldest and most respected family, Mr Marsh.'

'Like I haven't heard that one before…'

'Excuse me?'

'Sheriff, I do have to ask, beyond circumstantial evidence, do you have anything to suspect that Ms Price here has anything to do with the break in? Because, and speaking from my experience as a judge, this is starting to sound like you and the police have been looking bad lately and have just snatched up a local trouble maker to cover your own asses.'

'Well, I suppose it would depend on your definition of circumstantial, but Ms Price does have a history with numerous members of the Blackwell staff, not least of which is her step-father, David Madsen.'

'My client's relationship with any member of staff is irrelevant as the crime she is being accused of is not in relation to any specific member of staff.'

'David Madsen reported to the ABPD that he locked Blackwell's pool personally and that the only way someone could have gotten in is if they had his keys. Who else, with such a history of Ms Price, would have easy access to Mr Madsen's keys?'

'Mr Madsen also reported to the police that he locked the Prescott Dorm's roof doors yesterday afternoon.'

'Are you accusing Mr Madsen of lying in a police report, Mr Marsh?'

'Only as far as I'm implying that Mr Madsen has a history of incompetence and lying to save himself,' Judge Marsh says. 'Now, Sarah, once again, speaking with my experience as a judge, I see that you have a character history that barely warrants discussion in this context, a report that my client was in the general area – and why wouldn't she be? My client is close friends with one Max Caulfield, the girl who saved my little girl. Why shouldn't she go see her friend? And you have a hunch. You don't have any motive, nor do you have any solid evidence. In fact, I don't think I saw a deputy county attorney when your desk sergeant led me here. Are you going to charge my client or not?'

* * *

 **2013\. Prime Timeline – Max Caulfield. 22:07**

It is hella weird being friends with someone like Chloe Price. Good… but weird. It's like being on a rollercoaster. At night. Going close to the speed of light. Time and space just sort of warps around you and you seem to be sorta stuck in that moment, seemingly forever, you know? Sometimes you're breaking into swimming pools at midnight, sometimes you're saving her from a train, and sometimes you kiss. It is hella weird. And you have no idea where any of it is going because it feels like you're breaking every rule known to man, but at the same time you just can't seem to care.

Like, you're on your rollercoaster and someone shouts, "How do we slow down?"

"Who the fuck cares?" you reply, cackling maniacly like the Wicked Witch of the North-West. "We are touching relativity!"

Wait… No, it's not like that. It doesn't feel like that. Well, it does, and it doesn't, you know? It feels like more than that. More natural. Stronger. More primal? Like… I don't know, man. It's that feeling of completeness, happiness. Being with her makes me feel like I can do anything; like I am everything. Like I'm behind the camera to the universe. Like I'm not lonely, I'm not afraid. And it's not frightening… Well, it is sometimes, but most of the time it's not. Most of the time it's really nice.

I know that she probably doesn't feel the same way, she probably misses Rachel more than anything, but oh lord, what a feeling! I've been in planes, I've been in trains, and I've burned down the walls of time and space, and trust me, none of those compare to this.

This is home.

These past few days… It feels like I've found myself in her again. And I think that's is worth what might come afterwards… I hope it's worth what comes afterwards.

I mean, when we find Rachel and she sees Chloe again and they've patched everything up and we've saved this town and they're all happy and packing to head to LA and _California Dreaming_ is playing on Chloe's stereo and everything… Where will that leave me?

Will I just go back to how things were last week? Hanging out with Warren, having tea with Kate, sometimes shooting the shit with Dana and avoiding Victoria like a phone bill? It just doesn't seem to compare, but I guess I'll be fine.

I mean, that will be fine, I guess… I mean, sure it will. It will. Because, I guess if today has taught me anything, it's that some things just have a time: a beginning, a middle and an ending, and Chloe and Rachel going off into the sunset would be their happy ending. And I'd be happy for them.

I would be happy for them.

I would.

Chloe is my oldest and dearest friend. She's the person who I've always trusted and who made things better than I ever thought they had any right to be and the person who pulls me out of my shell. My first kiss. I want her to be happy, especially after what I have to tell her… I guess, if she doesn't want to be here with me, then being there with Rachel is good. She'd be happy there.

I want Chloe to be happy. It's only natural that people want the people who they love to be… Shit. Did I just…?

Oh man, I did.

I mean… Sure, we did kiss… and it did feel amazing… and… It was… Well, it wasn't bad. And I did…

I do love her. I love Chloe Price, and I guess I always have somewhere subconsciously. All my life. It feels weird to think it out loud, but that's hella dumb… of course I do. It's so obvious.

Wowsers, I can't stop smiling.

And in a minute I've got to tell Chloe about her dad… I need to go stand outside for a minute and gather my thoughts. This next conversation is going to be a doozy.

Fuck.

* * *

 **2013\. Prime Timeline – Chloe Price. 22:10**

I don't know what it is, but there's just something so fucking satisfying about walking out of a police interrogation without being charged, especially when you are technically guilty. Mwahaha!

Chloe Elizabeth Price: 1 – Criminal Justice System: 4.

Okay, maybe they're winning, but I won this time, didn't I? And this'll be the last time, too. Now that I've got Max, I'll never be stupid enough to get caught again. You may have the highest score, State of Oregon, but I will win the game.

Jeezus, I am so fucking exhausted.

After saying goodbye to Mr. Marsh, thanking him for representing me and asking him to give my mom's regards to Kate, I quickly make my way towards the police station's waiting room. But instead of Max, Mom, or Max and my mom I find nobody.

'Max?' I shout. 'Where you at?'

Good ol' Yosemite Sam, also known as the desk sergeant, looks up at me, his "I Shot the Sheriff" mug in hand.

'You want something, ma'am?' he says.

'Yeah,' I reply. 'My lawyer told me that my friend was out here.'

'About yay tall,' he says indicating Max's height, 'brunette, camera bag on her shoulders and dressed like a Soundgarden roadie?'

I smile. 'Yeah, that's her.'

'She just went outside.'

'Oh,' I say, 'cool.'

'No problem,' he says and goes back to his paper work.

I quickly make my way out into the cool night and shudder when a cold gust of wind brushes against my shoulders. Shit! No jacket. I guess it's good that they didn't search my truck, though. If they found Max's grenade then I could have been in even more trouble.

Outside, I look around and spot Max is standing on the far edge of the tall pavement, bathed in the full moon's pale light. She's talking to herself, looking like she's rehearsing a speech. '…me for it, and I wouldn't blame you for it…'

Trying to be as quiet as possible, I move closer.

'Hey girl!' I shout. 'Where you been?'

Max looks up and turns to me. She smiles and rubs her eyes and then comes running up to me, like Bamby running through the glade, before enveloping me in her arms. Not as if I'm complaining or anything, but I really wasn't expecting that. Well, not yet anyway.

'Hey,' I say. 'They don't say hello where you're from?'

'This is where I'm from, Chloe. And this is how I'm saying hello.'

'You nerd,' I return the hug. 'But you're right, this is an awesome way of saying hello.'

'Yeah… Chloe?'

'Yeah?'

'I think we should let go now. I'm starting to lose feeling in my extremities. .'

'Oh,' I let her go. 'Sorry about that. It's been one of those days.

'Yeah…' she says.

I reach into my pocket and pull out my lighter and a cigarette. I light it and take a drag. Max stares at me, smiling.

'You okay, Max? You look like you've taken ecstasy. You haven't, have you?'

'God no,' she says. 'I'm just happy.'

I pull out the cigarette. 'Do you want a drag?'

'No thank you.'

Max's smile fades and she looks down at her feet.

'Max, are you alright? Where have you been all day?'

She sighs and sits down on the edge of the pavement. 'Chloe… You should sit down. There's something I have to tell you.'

'What is it?' I say, take another drag and sit down next to her.

'I… Today… After we…'

'Max?'

She turns to me and tries to force a smile before giving up. 'Today, after we argued in the truck… I went to my room and looked at that photograph that your dad took of us that… The last day. Things got funky and I went back.'

'Back?'

'I travelled back in time, Chloe. Back… there. Back then.'

I drop the cigarette onto the cool concrete road and step it out. 'You… You travelled back in time? Did you see my dad?'

'Yeah, Chloe,' she replies. 'I did.'

I can feel my throat closing; it's getting hard to speak. 'Did you… Did you try to change it?'

'Of course I did, Chloe. I saved him. He lived. And then everything changed.'

'Everything changed?'

'I was… I don't know what to call it. I was suddenly somewhere else.'

'And?'

'And it wasn't here.'

'Was my dad…' I say as a tear trickles down my cheek. I wipe it away. 'How was he?'

'He was fine, I guess. He'd taken to wearing sweaters.'

'Was he happy?'

'I think so.'

'And what about me?'

Max doesn't reply.

'Max?'

She looks down at the cigarette between my feet, its embers slowly dying. 'There had been an accident… a few years before, I guess. She… You… She couldn't move. She was in a wheelchair.'

'And was she happy?'

'I think so,' she says. 'She was in college, studying Physics, and kicking ass.'

I let out a weak smile. 'Go Chloe.'

'Yeah.'

'What about my mom?'

'She died. She… In the accident.'

'Oh…'

For what feels like the longest time, we don't say anything; we just sit there on the edge of the step. In the background, we listen as cops come and go out of the police station and the sound of the night birds, singing in the distance. I start another cigarette and watch the fireflies dance around the neon signs across the street.

'What do you think?'

'I miss my dad, Max.'

'I know,' she says, 'and if there was any way that I could have brought him back with me I would have.'

'I know, Max…' I say and wipe a tear from my face. 'I know… It's just that… I know that I don't remember any of that. She wasn't me. That's not my life.' I sigh. 'That wasn't my dad'

'You're a lot like him, you know. Your dad, I mean.'

'Doubt it. He. He was a… Everyone loved him, and I'm a loser with a capital "Nobody gives a shit.'

'I give a shit. I care about you, Chloe. I care about you very, very much.'

'That's very nice of you, Max,' I say. 'I just wish that Rachel… I wish she was more like you.'

'I'm sure she didn't mean to…'

'It doesn't matter what she meant or didn't mean, Max. What happened, happened, and there's nothing that you or me can do about that now.'

'What do you mean?'

'I… I still want to find Rachel, but not because… I want to find out what happened, you know? I want her to be alive. Then, when we've found out what's happened, that'll be it. Me and Rachel will part ways. You can't trust betrayers.'

'What about me?'

'You didn't choose to leave me… You were a kid.'

'I should have come back sooner.'

'Yeah,' I turn to her and smile, 'you should have… But it's pointless talking about that, now. When you did come back you saved my life and you… I'm really sorry for saying that stuff to you before, Max.'

'It's fine,' she says. 'Then what?'

'Then what, what?'

'What are you going to do then?'

'I don't know,' I reply. 'I guess… Time will tell.'

'Yeah…' she chuckles. 'You never know, I might fail. I might get everyone killed and the whole thing will be moot.'

'You won't, Max. You're a Hero, Max. You'll save everyone. Then, hopefully, you'll become a famed photographer.'

'Maybe,' she says. 'I guess like you said, time will tell what will happen in the future. Unless I have another vision.'

'If you do, make sure you get the lotto numbers.'

'Will do. But if I don't have another vision, this is good. Here. Now. With you…'

'Yeah.'

'Yeah,' she says. 'Being with you and doing this. It's like a dream.'

I smile and stare at the full moon. 'Dreams are what comes after darkness, Max. It's getting away from the rigours of life, putting a bad day behind you so that you can move on. Rest. And then wake up for a new morning.'

'I don't get it,' she says. 'What that mean, Che?'

'It is a dream,' I reply. 'This whole thing has been one hella beautiful dream after a long and shitty night.'

'That's really nice, Chloe… When did you become a poet?'

'Poetry ain't nothing but the language of the soul, Max.'

Max chuckles. 'Did you learn that on the mean streets of Arcadia Bay?'

'No, prison. Obviously,' I say and turn to her. 'It changes you.'

'You were in jail for less than three hours,' she replies. 'I've had relationships with cups of coffee longer than that. You weren't even in lock up.'

'It's the principle of the thing. If you fine us, do we not avoid? If you imprison us, do we not become gangster poets of the street?'

'I thought you were a punk.'

'Punk-Ass Poet of the Street, then.'

'That's more like it,' she says. 'Hey, did they make you wear one of those orange jump suits?'

'No, why?'

'I heard orange is the new black.'

'Groan!'

Max smiles. 'I had to get you back for the partners in time thing.'

'Fine.' I smile and stand up. 'Max, I'm really fucking hungry.'

'I know what you mean,' she says. 'Up All Nite Donuts?'

'Fucking-A, Max. Let's go.'

I pull Max up off the floor and we start making our way to the all-night donut shop across town. Without our jackets, we're cold, left shivering in the cold autumn night air. I look over to Max and put my arms around her.

'Chloe?' she says. 'Are you alright?

'I'm hella cold.'

'Oh…' she says and wraps her arms around me. 'It's not too far, is it?'

'No… I mean, it's a walk, but we'll be there soon enough. I can let go if you're uncomfortable.'

'No,' she says. 'This is good… This is really good… It's just that it's really awkward walking like this.'

'Oh,' I say. 'Well, it's not far.'

'Okay,' she says.

We continue onwards, looking like an old Bob Dylan album coverfor about half a mile before I stop under a pale street light. Above, the moon and the stars shine down on us. Crickets chirp in the distance, and I can hear the sound of wind. It's quiet. Peaceful.

There's never going to be a better time to tell her than now. Okay…

'You okay?' Max says and turns, her arms still wrapped around me.

'Yeah… Max?'

'Yeah?'

'You do realize we're hugging.'

She chuckles. 'I do know, silly.'

'Good,' I smile. 'I was just checking… Max?'

'Yeah?'

'I love you, Max, you know. Very, very much.'

She smiles. 'Bout time you said it, Punk Ass.'

'You had to ruin a beautiful moment, didn't you, Hippie…?'

Suddenly, before I can finish speaking, she kisses me. Then, she kisses me again. Time seems to slow down. Is this what it's like, Max, when you time travel? It's nice, Max. It's really, really nice.

After what feels like an eternity, we pull away from each other; I smile at her, she smiles at me, and I feel like I could spend the rest of my life in the middle of this moment and not regret it. I put my hands on her cheeks and she wraps her warm arm around my shoulder and we kiss each other. The moon and the stars are looking down on us and in the distance I can hear the sound of the night birds. It feels good. Perfect, even.

It feels like I've been away for a really long time, and I've finally come home.

* * *

 **The End**

* * *

 **Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting, following and reading this story.** **It has been a pleasure to write it for you.**


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